Duelists Like Us
by Phoenix-Talon
Summary: Kaiba insults Joey by inviting him to his new Amateur Tournament in Las Vegas. However, Kaiba gets a tad more than he bargained for when Serenity tags along. Anything could happen in Vegas. And not all magic is onstage. Serenity/Kaiba Joey/Mai Yugi/Tea
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Lately, I've become addicted to Yu Gi Oh!. (*is ashamed*) Look, when you have finals and all you do is eat, sleep, study, and watch TV, you become easily amused. And I'm now addicted to the pairing Seto/Serenity otherwise known as silentshipping. What can I say, I've always been a sucker for the bad boy with the good girl. But when I went on to read this pairing, I was shocked to see how many Yu Gi Oh! fanfictions have no dueling in them. C'mon guys! What's Yu Gi Oh! without dueling or some kind of game? So this is my Seto/Serenity fic with lots and lots of dueling. Also will feature Tea/Yugi and Mai/Joey because both of those ships are obviously canon and adorkable. That's right I said adorkable. Not a typo. ADORKABLE. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer—I don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

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The door rattled open and Tea Gardner stepped inside the Kame Game shop. Yugi, who'd been sweeping, glanced up and smiled.

"Hi Tea!" He said cheerfully.

"Hey Yugi," She greeted him and gave him a once over. "Have you gotten taller?" It was true, he seemed at least an inch taller than the last time she saw him.

Yugi grinned. "Yep. I'm finally hitting that growth spurt Gramps has been promising me since forever." He put his hand behind his neck and laughed sheepishly.

"Huh," Tea said surprised and then cleared her throat. "So I heard Serenity was staying with Joey for the summer. Is that true?"

"Yeah," Yugi replied. "She just got here, actually."

"Really, where is she?" Tea asked eagerly. "I can't wait to see her again."

"Oh, she, Joey, and Mai are out back. Joey's dueling some street punk who hit on Mai," Yugi said casually. "C'mon, I'll show you."

Tea raised her eyebrows. "I feel sorry for the street punk."

XXXXX

Serenity grinned excitedly. She loved watching her older brother duel. And it was pretty clear that Joey was going to be the victor. In fact, it was painfully clear.

Joey—3900

Random Street Punk who hit on Mai—300

Joey's field: Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) Jinzo (2400/1500) Insect Queen (2400/2400) Legendary Fisherman (1850/1600) Gilford the Lightning (2800/1400)

Random Punk's field: Outstanding Dog Maron (100/100)

Mai Valentine was standing next to her, looking unimpressed and frankly annoyed.

"I _told_ him I'd take care of this," She grumbled. "I'm not some damsel in distress. My harpies would've creamed this loser easily."

"But isn't it nice that he wanted to fight for you?" Serenity pointed out. She'd love for a guy to duel to her defense. Clearly, Mai had different ideas.

"I don't _need_ anyone to fight for me, I can fight for myself!" Mai muttered. "And would you look at this poor sap?"

That was true enough. Joey had his opponent cornered and was making no secret of his glee at defeating him.

"Now you're in for it!" He declared smirking. "I think it's time to finally end this. Red Eyes, Jinzo, Legendary Fisherman, Gilford, ATTACK!"

Four of his five monsters charged the punk and demolished his lifepoints. Joey grinned smugly and struck a triumphant pose, his monsters following suit.

"Oh yeah! Who's the man? Whadja think of that?!" He looked towards his sister and Mai expectantly.

"That was awesome, Joey," Serenity said proudly.

"That was overkill, Joey," Mai snorted. "You could've defeated him three turns ago when you summoned your Red Eyes Black dragon. Did you have to toy with the poor guy?"

"Hmph," Joey folded his arms. "Should've expected this from you. He had it comin'!"

"Maybe, but toying with him like that?" Mai shook her head. "That's positively…_Kaiba-like_." She turned away and started to huff off while Joey looked infuriated.

"That's below the belt, Mai!" He yelled after her. Mai's blonde head did not turn as she disappeared down the street. "Typical," Joey muttered looking highly peeved.

"She probably didn't get that the only reason you summoned all those monsters was to impress her," Serenity commented.

"Hey! I did not!" Joey flushed. "That's enough outta you!"

Serenity blinked. "Okay, Joey." She smothered a giggle as Tea and Yugi joined them.

"Serenity!" Tea squealed and the two girls hugged each other. Yugi raised his eyebrows at Joey.

"Mai stomped off," Joey grumbled shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Why, what happened?" Yugi questioned.

"She didn't like how I kicked that little punk's ass," Joey complained. "So what if he only had 300 life points left? So what if he had one monster on the field? I had a badass combo with my Red Eyes, Jinzo, Gilford the Lightning, Insect Queen—"

"All those?" Yugi said surprised. "Isn't that kind of overkill?"

"Shaddup! Not you too!" Joey groaned. He was going to say more when Yugi's grandpa exited the game shop, holding two letters.

"Mail for you and Joey," Soloman Mutou announced. Joey snatched the letter and examined it.

"Who's it from?" Tea asked wanted to know.

"Kaiba Corp!" Joey exclaimed ripping the envelope. "Hey! I've been invited to participate in a Duel Monsters tournament! Kaiba Corp Am Grand Prix."

Yugi opened his letter and read the contents.

"That jerk Kaiba is finally taking me seriously as a duelist!" Joey cheered. "About time."

"Huh, look at that," Yugi said awkwardly. "My letter's inviting me to…be a judge at the Kaiba Corp Am Grand Prix…"

"Judge?" Joey blinked. "Wait, what?"

"What's the Am stand for?" Serenity asked curiously.

"I think it stands for…ahem…amateur…" Yugi said slowly. The full realization of this dawned on Joey.

"What the hell!" He bellowed. "This invite's an insult! That bastard!"

Tea grabbed Joey's letter and read it aloud. "In celebration of the opening of Seto Kaiba's new dueling school, he is hosting a tournament specifically aimed towards duelists with promise to finesse their skills and make it to the big leagues…"

"_What_?!" Joey snarled. "I already AM in the big leagues!"

"You could always decline the invitation," Serenity suggested timidly.

"And have that Kaiba jerk laugh it up? Forget it!" Joey growled. "I'll join his stupid tournament and defeat everyone there! Then I'll kick Kaiba's ass while I'm at it!"

"He sent us plane tickets," Yugi noted. "We can each invite three people."

"Well, so much for a peaceable summer…" Tea laughed.

XXXX

THE KAIBA HELICOPTER

Kaiba was in the midst of flying to America when his computer screen blinked open.

"Mr. Kaiba, Yugi Mutou and Joey Wheeler have received their invitations."

Kaiba smiled. "Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh…"

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**AN: Save a muse, send a review! This chapter was focused on the Yugi gang, next week will feature Kaiba…silentshippingness to come…;)**


	2. How Kaiba Spends His Summers

**AN: Did you know? That every time you put my story on story alert without reviewing that God kills a kitten? And whenever Seto Kaiba smiles, God kills a puppy. Review review!!!!**

**Princes Yunariana and CallMeKMac were the only two to review me and therefore, THEY get metaphorical cookies. All you other people who just put me on story alert—NO COOKIES. **

**Disclaimer—I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the games I choose to use in this fic.**

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**Three Days Prior to Joey and Yugi Receiving Their Invitations**

There were few things in life that truly gave Seto Kaiba joy. First was probably Mokuba, closely followed by crushing people at Duel Monsters. Unfortunately, that list was woefully short.

Kaiba walked through the doors of Kaiba Corp, ignoring his workers polite greetings. He was mentally going over his personal list of things he needed to do that day when a loud voice interrupted him.

"Hey! Kaiba!"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as some strange kid pushed his way towards him. The kid looked about fourteen or maybe fifteen with blue hair.

"Who the hell is this?" He demanded imperiously.

"Eric Stuart," the kid seethed. "And I challenge you to a duel!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "How do these people keep getting in here?" He sighed.

"Yugi Mutou was an unknown, and _he _beat you!" Eric declared. "I'm an unknown, so now it's my turn!"

Kaiba's left eye twitched at the mention of Yugi.

"There he is!" Security apparently had finally caught up with the kid. They grabbed his arms. "Mr. Kaiba is a very busy man. It's time for you to get out, kid!"

"Leggo of me!" Eric said kicking and fighting.

"Fine," Kaiba said coldly.

The two security guards froze. "What?"

"I said, fine," Kaiba said curtly. "Don't worry about this interrupting my morning appointments. This shouldn't take too long at all."

XXXXX

Eric Stuart: 4000LP

Seto Kaiba: 4000LP

"All right, I'll go first!" Eric said smugly. "I summon, the Gene-Warped Warwolf in attack mode!" (2000/100)

"Boo yah! Your move," Eric finished.

"That's _it_?"

Eric blinked confusedly.

Kaiba sighed loudly and exasperatedly. "I summon Kaibaman." A card that looked identical to Seto Kaiba except for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon helmet appeared in a shower of light. (200/700)

"That card looks like you," Eric snorted contemptuously. "Is that why it's so weak?"

"I activate the Kaibaman's special ability," was Kaiba's only response. "I sacrifice it to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon." (3000/2500) He picked up the Kaibaman and slid it into his graveyard slot. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon shimmered into existence on the playing field. Eric looked slightly panicked.

"Next I activate this Spell card," Kaiba said holding up a card that had an ancient looking document with what looked like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon on it. "Ancient Rules."

Eric looked extremely panicked now. He knew exactly what that card did.

In an instant, a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared next to the first. (3000/2500) The dragons roared in unison.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon," Kaiba said, almost sounding bored. "Take out the Warwolf." The dragon opened its mouth and a stream of white lightning shot out, annihilating the Warwolf.

Eric Stuart: 3000LP

Seto Kaiba: 4000LP

Kaiba gestured absently towards the next Blue-Eyes. The dragon started to attack even as Kaiba was already walking away.

Eric Stuart: 0LP

Seto Kaiba: 4000LP

"Excellent job, Mr. Kaiba," An rushed employee chased after Kaiba. Kaiba threw him a dirty look.

"That brat wasn't even worth my time," He snorted. "I can't wait for my tournament."

XXXXX

**A Week Later**

Serenity took a deep breath as they entered the airport. Joey looked like he was on fire as they strode through the ticket counters.

"So, where is the tournament being held again?" Tristan asked. Joey had chosen to invite Serenity, Tristan, and Tea.

"Las Vegas," Joey said promptly. "Perfect place for me to crush Kaiba!"

"Let's hope so, anyway," Tea said wryly. As they walked through the airport Tea said suddenly. "Hey, isn't that Mai?"

"What?" Joey's head swiveled and Serenity went on tiptoes. Sure enough, they saw a long blonde head in the crowd, carrying a purple duffle.

"It _is_ Mai," Serenity said excitedly. "Mai! Mai!"

Mai turned around and looked at them in surprise. "What are you all doing here?"

"We're going to Las Vegas for the new Duel Monsters Tournament," Serenity replied. "What about you?"

"Really?" Mai glanced at Serenity's tickets. "Hm. Different flights, but same destination. Interesting."

"Wait a sec," Joey interrupted. "You're going to that new tournament too? Why?"

Mai, who was still clearly annoyed with Joey, ignored him.

"Um, why are you going to the new tournament?" Serenity asked.

"I've been asked to judge—" Mai started to say but Joey interrupted her again.

"_What_?!" Joey yelled. "_You're_ judging?" He went red with anger but Mai still refused to answer him.

"Duel Monsters Tournaments don't usually have judges," Serenity furrowed her brow. "Why does this one?"

"Something new Kaiba came up with," Yugi explained while Joey fumed in rage. "I'll be judging on strategy, how well-thought out the strategies of the duels are."

"I'll be judging on style," Mai added.

"You mean how pretty the cards look?" Serenity asked eagerly.

"Not quite," Mai smiled; Serenity was her especial pet. "I judge on the flair with which you duel, and I must say, I am the expert on that." She winked.

"What does Kaiba judge you on?" Tea wanted to know.

"Whether or not you win," Mai deadpanned. "Really, what else would he judge on?"

"Gaaaaaah!" Joey yelled. "With _him_ judging, how the hell am I going to beat anyone there?"

Serenity looked at her brother confusedly. "I don't understand why Kaiba's acting like this. He seemed so nice when we were sucked in that virtual world."

All six of them turned and looked her.

"Are we talkin' about the same person?" Joey snorted.

"I'm not even going point out all the things wrong with that statement," Tristan sighed.

"What?" Serenity said honestly. "He cares so much about his little brother. He fought so hard to get him back. It reminds me of how—"

"Serenity, for the sake of all of us, you really don't want to finish that sentence," Yugi said quickly watching Joey's hackles rise. Serenity shrugged.

XXXX

"First class, now this is more like it," Tristan sighed with ease as the gang settled into the large chairs.

Serenity fidgeted uncomfortably. "Why did we all get first class seats and Joey didn't?"

"Because it's Kaiba," Tea said contemptuously, flipping open the Sky Mall magazine. Serenity frowned.

"Well, he's the one dueling," Serenity said crossly. "He should be up here. I'm going to go switch with him." She started to stand up.

Tristan immediately leapt to his feet. "No, no, I'll switch with Joey," He said gallantly. "You're right, Serenity, it _isn't_ fair."

Serenity blinked. "Well, that's really nice of you, Tristan. Thanks."

"Not at all," Tristan smiled broadly.

XXXX

An hour later, Tristan was stuck between a very fat man whose sweat oozed into his seat and a woman with a squalling baby.

Trying to make conversation, Tristan asked, "So why are you guys going?"

"Some rich guy paid us to get seats here," The fat guy grunted.

"Figures," Tristan muttered. Oh, the things he did for love.

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**AN: Hee hee! Tristan is almost as much fun to torment as Joey. I promise the duels will get more interesting next chapter. Save a muse, send a review!**


	3. The Desperado Duelists

**AN: In case you're curious, I had a tough time deciding whether to use their Japanese names or the English dub names. I mean, I love both of the names Serenity and Shizuka. However, I **_**love**_** Mai's Japanese name—Mai Kujaku. Way more badass than Mai Valentine. And I think Anzu Masaki fits better than Tea Gardner. I decided on the English names in the end, because I wanted to keep a certain line from Kaiba in reference to Serenity's English name. But I didn't change Yugi Mutou to Moto just because I thought it was ridiculous that they dubbed it that way. Is Mutou that hard to say? Really? **

**SSBMercurious2****- Ooh, I love a challenge. I shall endeavor to make it worth your while. :D**

**MeAndMyHarpieDeck****- Ah, it's all in good fun. Glad you like—but consider Serenity's character. She pretty much thinks any guy who shows a hint of having a soul is gallant. I love the girl, but she's very naive. But I appreciate the constructive criticism—if you have anymore, please dish it out. I love the stuff.**

**Rhino7****- (*GLOMPS*) Did we just become fanfiction buddies? Let's go down to the basement and write shit! Glad you like—I'm waiting for yours! **

**And many thanks to Princess Yunariana and XoXoDrAgOnPrInCeSsSoXoXo for reviewing! Save a muse, send a review!**

**Disclaimer—Don't own nothing.**

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"This is incredible!" Serenity exclaimed peering around the city. "This city's amazing. It seems so much more exciting than Domino."

"Yeah, and the ride wasn't too shabby either," Joey said brightly. He was looking a lot more cheerful since Tristan switched seats.

"Speak for yourself," the aforementioned Tristan muttered rubbing his back. He was very stiff—turned out, the seat was broken and wouldn't recline.

"So…now what?" Tea questioned as they all piled into the hotel lobby. "Do we just wait for Kaiba?"

"I think so," Yugi commented. "I see some of the other duelists too."

Yugi was right. Serenity noticed at least twelve other duelists, looking to be about sixteen or seventeen, milling around the lobby. She noticed a tall pale duelist dressed in nothing but black looking somber with a cheerful looking auburn-haired girl at his arm, wearing a flowery sundress. She saw another girl who looked like some kind of supermodel—and another girl who looked like a bookworm with large horn-rimmed glasses. She saw another tall duelist with dark hair wearing Bermuda shorts and another…who looked very hostile. He looked like some kind of biker and was glaring at anyone and everyone angrily. She shivered and looked away.

"It's kinda like the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix," Tea remarked.

"Not quite, Tea," a familiar voice intoned. The group turned to see Mokuba Kaiba grinning at them.

"Mokuba!" Yugi greeted.

"Hey Yugi," Mokuba said cheerfully. "As I was saying, the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix was to celebrate the opening of the first Kaibaland. The Kaiba Am is to celebrate the Kaibaland opening in Las Vegas _along_ with the new Kaiba Casino and Hotel, which if you'll notice, is where all the duelists will be staying."

"Nice," Tristan said impressed.

"Heck yes it is," Mokuba said proudly. "And before I say anything else—here's my brother now." They turned in unison towards the front of the hotel.

"Kaiba," Joey snarled.

Seto Kaiba strolled through the hotel doors, bodyguards in tow. Joey was fairly certain that the bodyguards were absolutely no use to Kaiba—just merely for show.

Joey glared at Kaiba and Kaiba glanced at him, a smirk coming on to his face. He then turned his attention towards the duelists.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Kaiba Corp Pro Am Tournament," He began. "You may have noticed that each of you have been assigned a lanyard with a light on it. The light is currently blue. It will change colors when you advance to the next round. When it goes blank, you're out of the tournament. You may only challenge another duelist who has the same color lanyard as yours."

A few of Kaiba's henchmen started handing each of the duelists lanyards.

"There will also be duelists walking around with green lanyards," Kaiba smiled wickedly. "They are eliminators. They can challenge you, but you cannot challenge them. And if they do, you _must _accept."

"And now I'd like to introduce the eliminators, just so you know who they are," Kaiba crossed his arms imperiously. A pretty young woman stepped forward along with another young man with a spiky green Mohawk.

"Asriel Coffin and Pierce Sharpe," Kaiba finished.

"Who would name their kid Pierce, when their last name was Sharpe?" Joey muttered.

"As you make your way up each level—" Kaiba started but was suddenly interrupted by the large revving of motorcycle engines and a shattering of glass. Two motorcyclists drove through the hotel lobby scattering the duelists. They were wearing obnoxiously large cowboy hats and were yee-hawing all over the place.

"What the hell," Kaiba snarled as a flustered Roland cried out,

"I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, we tried to stop them!"

"You almost ran over my foot!" Joey yelled as the two cyclists parked two feet away from them.

One pulled out a gun and laughed at his face. "All right tough guy, gimme your rarest cards." Serenity gasped in fear but Joey blocked her from view.

Out of nowhere a card struck him in the face. The cyclist cried out in pain.

"What the crap!" The cyclist said shocked. "Did you just chuck a card me?!"

"Stay away from my tournament competitors," Kaiba growled heading towards them.

"Hey! He insulted _my_ honor, Kaiba," Joey paused, realized that the cyclist was distracted, and full out punched him in the jaw. He went down and the gun clattered across the floor. A duelist in a wheelchair picked it up. Within thirty seconds, the wheelchair bound duelist had dismantled the gun completely.

The cyclist looked around for his gun confusedly and then just turned to his partner who drew another pistol. In a second, Kaiba had disarmed the other cyclist with what seemed like a flick of his wrist. Kaiba then tossed the gun to Roland.

"Get out of my casino," Kaiba stated through gritted teeth.

"Nuh uh," One refused. "This is a stick up, Seto Kaiba! Cuz we're Wayne Johnson and Woody Eastclint, the DESPERADO DUELISTS!"

"Oh God," The duelist with the horn-rimmed glasses moaned.

"Not much of a stick up since your guns are gone," Kaiba sneered.

"You took our guns, you didn't take our decks or duel disks!" Wayne declared, and the two of them removed duel disks from their motorcycles.

"Who puts duel disks on motorcycles?" Joey grumbled. "That's just stupid."

"We know how you work Kaiba," Woody grinned. "We'll bet our rarest cards and when we win, we'll have three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

"HEY! Insulted honor, here!" Joey bellowed. The Desperado Duelists turned and gave Joey a once over. They grinned identically.

"Perfect," Wayne laughed. "We'll have a Red-Eyes Black Dragon too. TAG TEAM!"

Joey looked gung ho. Kaiba looked disgusted. They both activated their duel disks along with the Desperado Duelists.

Joey-4000LP

Woody Eastclint-4000LP

Kaiba-4000LP

Wayne Johnson-4000LP

"By the way," Wayne added. "If any of the players' lifepoints hit zero, the entire team automatically loses."

"WHAT?!" Kaiba and Joey demanded together.

"Eh, too late to back down now," Joey said waving that away.

"Just follow my lead, Wheeler," Kaiba said through gritted teeth.

"You're not the boss of me," Joey said childishly. "And I'M going first!"

Kaiba snarled softly under his breath, this meant he would be going second to last.

"Time to bring forth," Joey said as he drew his opening hand. "My Red-Eyes Black CHICK!"

A large red egg appeared on the field.

"Shh, shh!" Joey said, who was clearly enjoying himself. "It's hatching! We're about to see the birth of a baby Red-Eyes! (800/500) Isn't the miracle of life _beautiful_?"

Kaiba looked like he was seriously regretting this whole tag team thing.

Shards of eggshell crumbled to the ground and a baby dragon squeaked.

"It's so cute," Serenity smiled.

"Look! He knows his papa!" Joey sniffled. "And you know what the great thing about babies are?" His tone changed. "They grow up _so_ fast."

The dragon began expanding in front of them. It then let out a fierce roar. (2400/2000)

"Meet Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Joey announced. He grinned. "I play three more cards facedown, and that's my turn."

Woody drew a card. "I summon my Sand Gambler! (300/1600)"

Kaiba cocked an eyebrow and Joey did a facefall.

"Hey stupid," Kaiba snorted. "Your Sand Gambler only had 300 attack points. Wheeler's dragon could crush it with a sneeze."

"I activate my Second Coin Toss continuous Spell card!" Woody said. "And a trap card!"

Kaiba smiled, which was never a good thing. "Wheeler's dragon could crush you with a sneeze," He smirked. "Mine can just by exhaling. WHITE DRAGON RITUAL!" He activated a spell card.

"I'll toss my Vorce Raider to summon the Paladin of White Dragon, (1900/1200)," Kaiba said calmly. "Then I'll send him to the graveyard."

No sooner had it hit the field than he'd flipped it into his graveyard slot.

"Come forth, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" (3000/2500) Kaiba cried out. Immediately the mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon materialized before them all, roaring.

"And now, I summon Kaibaman," (200/700) Kaiba continued, still smiling. A card that looked eerily similar to Kaiba appeared on the field.

"You are so full of yourself," Joey snapped. "A card that looks like you?"

"And I sacrifice him to summon a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon," (3000/2500)

Kaiba said, ignoring Joey. The second Blue-Eyes arrived in a ray of light and Kaiba smirked. Kaiba played one more card facedown.

"What's the matter, Wheeler? Only got one Red-Eyes?" He taunted to his partner.

"Quiet you," Joey snapped back.

"My turn," Wayne proclaimed. "And first things first, I'm gonna play this card in defense mode. Then I'll activate my Tribute Doll. Meet my Slot Machine!" (2000/2300)

A robot that looked like—well, a slot machine took its place on the field.

"And now, I'm gonna pump him up with not one, but two Seven Completeds!" (3400/2300) Wayne said triumphantly.

Kaiba frowned.

"Fortunately, Tribute Doll stops me from attacking this turn, so it's the loser with the Red-Eyes' turn!" Wayne said.

Joey's eyes narrowed. "Watch yourself," He snarled. "Before my turn starts, I'm gonna activate one of my trap cards! Meet Level Conversion Lab! Now I can pick one card in my hand will show it to you. And I choose my Cyber-Tech Alligator. Now I'm gonna roll a die."

A giant mechanical die appeared on the field.

"Now when the die finishes rolling, my Cyber-Tech's level will be transformed to the number on the die," Joey continued. "Unless of course it's a one, in which case I have to discard it."

"And, go dice roll!"

The giant die rolled around for a moment, and then landed on 2.

"Two!" Joey exclaimed. "My Cyber-Tech's level is now 2, so I can summon him to the field now! Go Cyber-Tech Alligator!" He slapped the card onto his disk and a mechanical looking alligator appeared onto the field. (2500/1600)

"And now my gator's gonna crush your Sand Gambler!" Joey yelled.

"Like hell he is," Woody snorted. "Reveal trap card, Shift! Shift will redirect your attack to my partner's Slot Machine!"

"Uh oh."

A laser beam shot out of the Slot Machine and struck the Cyber-Tech Alligator, blasting it into oblivion.

Joey-3100LP

Woody Eastclint-4000LP

Kaiba-4000LP

Wayne Johnson-4000LP

"Way to go Wheeler," Kaiba snapped.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault!" Joey defended himself.

"Any idiot could see there was trap card there!" Kaiba bit out.

"Well, that just proves I'm not any idiot!" Joey retorted.

"Can't argue with that," Kaiba muttered darkly.

"Meet my Gambler of Legend!" (500/1400) Woody announced summoning a monster. "This guy has never met a card game he didn't like. Which is why he was allowed his own personal card in Duel Monsters."

A tall cowboy-esque monster appeared on the field casually flipping a coin.

"Now it's time to play a little game of chance," Woody continued. "First I'll start with my Gambler of Legend."

The Gambler pulled out two more coins from his pocket.

"He's gonna flip some coins. If all three are heads, then I get to destroy every monster you have."

Kaiba made a disgruntled noise looking at his Blue-Eyes'.

"If two of them are heads, then I get to discard a card from one of your guys' hands," Woody went on.

"And if there's only one head? Then I destroy one of my own monsters," Woody finished.

"What if they're all tail?" Kaiba demanded.

"Then I have to discard my hand," Woody told him.

Joey looked incredibly smug for some reason.

"But first, I'm going to activate my Sand Gambler. He also has three coins!"

The Sand Gambler pulled out three coins of his own.

"If all three are heads, then I destroy your entire field. If all three are tails, I destroy my field. Anything in between and nothing happens. But I've boosted my odds with my Second Coin Toss. It'll allow me to re-toss some of my coins." Woody grinned. "Sand Gambler, COIN TOSS!"

The coins clinked to the ground. One heads, two tails.

"Gambler of Legend, COIN TOSS!" Woody said, looking determinedly towards his other monster.

All three of them were tails.

"What the—toss those coins again!" Woody yelped.

"I don't think it's gonna do you any good," Joey chuckled.

Once again, all three were tails.

"You gotta discard your entire hand!" Joey taunted. Woody groaned.

"Don't take credit for that, Wheeler, it wasn't you," Kaiba snorted skeptically.

"You keep thinking that," Joey sang.

"Joey's always had incredible luck," Yugi commented to his friends. A pale man in the background looked at Joey interestedly.

"I guess all I can do is switch Sand Gambler in defense," Woody muttered darkly.

Kaiba smirked. "Come forth, Kaiser Seahorse!" (1700/1650)

An undersea warrior emerged from Kaiba's card.

"Time to annihilate the gamblers," Kaiba yelled. "Kaiser, take care of the Sand Gambler!"

Kaiser Seahorse rushed forward and sliced the Sand Gambler in half.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, destroy the Gambler of Legend!" Kaiba ordered. "White Lightning!"

There was a blast of light from the dragon's mouth which hit the Gambler of Legend squarely.

Joey—3100LP

Woody—1500LP

Kaiba—4000LP

Wayne—4000LP

"Now my second Blue-Eyes, finish him off and win this duel!" Kaiba yelled.

"Ah, ah, ah," Wayne wagged a finger. "Slot Machine, defend my defenseless partner!"

"No!" Kaiba said realizing too late that his Blue-Eyes had just committed suicide. The Slot Machine blasted him and the Blue-Eyes shattered.

Joey—3100LP

Woody—1500LP

Kaiba—3600LP

Wayne—4000LP

Wayne snapped the top card off of his deck. "A tag team is only as good as their weakest link," He grinned pointedly at Joey. Joey's Red-Eyes roared back in indignation.

"Now, Card of Sanctity! Everybody draws till they have six cards!" Wayne cried out.

All four players drew their cards.

"Now, I play one more Seven Completed," Wayne said. "To boost my Slot Machine once again!" (4100/2300)

"Now I could take out that Red-Eyes," Wayne said thoughtfully. "But I'm plenty skeered of what that Blue-Eyes could become. Slot Machine, take him down!"

The Slot Machine prepared to strike.

"Not so fast!" Joey sang out.

"What?" Kaiba wanted to know.

"You've triggered my trap card, Kunai with Chain!" Joey laughed. "Here's how it works. Once it's activated, it becomes an equipment spell card. And I choose to equip it to Kaiba's Kaiser Seahorse!" (2200/1650)

"That's not gonna do you any good," Wayne called out.

"Ah, but the Kunai has a second effect," Joey's eyes gleamed. "It can switch one monster on the field to defense mode! Guess which one I'll pick? Eenie meenie meinie SLOT MACHINE!"

Chains wrapped around the Slot Machine and forced it into defense mode.

Kaiba looked like he was about to explode. "You've _got _to be kidding me," He snarled.

"How's it feel to have Joey Wheeler save your butt?" Joey taunted his partner.

"I don't think Kaiba likes it at all," Tristan said from the sidelines.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Tea remarked.

"Way to go, Joey!" Serenity cheered.

"How do you like them apples?" Joey sneered. He drew a card and then wiped his eyes.

"You're not going to break down on me, are you?" Kaiba said looking disgusted.

"This is a card my sister gave me," He gave Serenity a thumbs up. "Meet Goddess with the Third Eye!" He held it up but did not play it. (1200/1000) The Desperado Duelists looked a little surprised at this show of emotion.

"She's a very special card," Joey continued. "Because she can become any monster I want when I use her in a fusion. So—Polymerization! Goddess with the Third Eye, become Summoned Skull!"

The Goddess merged with the Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

"Behold my ultimate monster!" Joey cried out. "Black Skull Dragon!" (3200/2500)

"It's even more powerful than your Blue-Eyes, Kaiba," Joey added as a fun fact causing Kaiba to grind his teeth. Joey then placed a card in defense mode as well.

"Now Black Skull Dragon, we don't like gambling, do we?" the dragon roared in agreement but eyed his master as if he was acting slightly hypocritical. "Blow up the Slot Machine!"

Black Skull Dragon prepared to strike and Kaiser Seahorse whipped his Kunai out of the way so his weapon wasn't in the way. Kaiba glared at the Kaiser annoyed at this betrayal and Black Skull Dragon demolished the Slot Machine.

"That's it for me!" Joey said gleefully.

"Guess what dudes and dudettes?" Woody said snidely. "I've got another Gambler of Legend!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Kaiba ground out.

"Now for two cards face down," Woody continued. "And I'm gonna activate his ability!"

"COIN TOSS!"

The coins clinked to the ground with two heads up.

"That's good," Woody grinned. "Let's see if we can do better. Gambler, pick up that last coin and try again."

The Gambler flipped the coin which spun around for a moment and than landed—once again, on tails.

"What the hell," Woody snapped. "Fine, Kaiba discard a card from your hand."

Kaiba quickly scanned his hand and discarded his Lord of Dragons.

"You're move, Kaiba," Woody said, sounding thoroughly put out.

"Hmmph," Kaiba harrumphed. "I sacrifice my Kaiser Seahorse to summon my third Blue-Eyes!" (3000/2500)

"Guess you didn't like my gift, huh?" Joey said tossing his Kunai with Chain into the graveyard.

"Wait, how can you use one monster to summon the Blue-Eyes?" Woody demanded.

"When Kaiser Seahorse is sacrifice to summon a light monster, it counts as two sacrifices," Kaiba smirked. "Now I activate this Spell card. A card called, Dragon's Mirror. This will allow me to fuse my two Blue-Eyes on my field with the one in my graveyard."

The mirror popped out of the card and the reflection of the Blue-Eyes could be seen on it. The mirror then merged with the two Blue-Eyes and then—

"Behold!" Kaiba started laughing in triumph. "My Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" (4500/3800)

"Blue-Eyes, take care of the Gambler of Legend and win us this duel!" Kaiba shouted. The dragon let out a mighty roar and started to focus its neutron blast towards Woody.

"Reveal trap card!" Woody shouted back. "Astral Barrier! As long as this little number's on the field, I can redirect any attack I want to my lifepoints!"

"Why would you want me to attack your lifepoints?" Kaiba demanded.

"Because I've also got this on the field," Woody yelled. "Spirit Barrier! As long as Spirit Barrier's in play, and I have a monster, I take no damage to my lifepoints through battle! And since I redirected your attack to my lifepoints, I am unharmed!"

A misty barrier formed around him and the attack dissipated.

"Too bad, so sad," Woody chanted.

"My turn," Wayne said. "I play, Graceful Charity! It lets me draw three cards so long as I discard two! So I'll just slide these two cards into the graveyard and now I play—Monster Reborn!"

"What do you think you're gonna get?" Joey wanted to know. "There's nothing in the graveyard that can stand up to our fused dragons!"

"Don't include my dragon when you say that. They're not in the same class," Kaiba snorted.

"Behold my Barrel Dragon!" (2600/2200) Wayne said gleefully. "I ditched it when I used Graceful Charity."

"And now Barrel Dragon's special ability, targeting Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. If we can charge his barrels just the right way, your dragon goes down." Wayne sneered. "And it involves coin tosses."

"You really don't get it," Joey chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Coin toss now!" The coins flew into the air and came to the ground with one heads and two tails.

"Second coin toss activates!" Woody chimed in immediately. Wayne walked out and flipped one of the coins again. He smiled.

"Heads," Wayne said. "Say goodbye to Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

"That's what you think," Kaiba snarled immediately. "Reveal my trap card, Call of the Haunted! Come forth Lord of Dragons!"

"When did that go to your graveyard?" Woody yelped.

Kaiba smiled. "I discarded it earlier. It's a very special card. As long as it's in play, dragon monsters are immune to effect monsters, spells, and traps. That means Wheeler's lame dragon," He pointed towards the Black Skull Dragon who roared indignantly. "And my unstoppable dragon."

"I can still attack!" Woody snapped angrily. "Barrel Dragon, take down Lord of Dragons! Your Call of the Haunted made sure that Lord of Dragons was in attack mode." The Barrel Dragon fired three laser blasts at Lord of Dragons.

Joey—3100LP

Woody—1500LP

Kaiba—2200LP

Wayne—4000LP

"That's my turn," Wayne said with a rather ugly look on his face.

Black Skull Dragon and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon roared in mourning.

"Oh you pissed off my Black Skull Dragon," Joey said drawing a card. He suddenly smiled. "I summon my Swordsman of Landstar in defense mode." (500/1200)

Kaiba turned incredulously towards Joey. "Are you taking this seriously, Wheeler?" He said bitingly.

"Course I am," Joey said brightly.

"My turn and it's time to see if my Gambler of Legend can clear your field," Woody said. "Go COIN TOSS!"

The coins came through the air and landed—all three of them were tails.

"What the _hell_?" Woody said furiously.

"Guess it's just not your lucky day," Joey said smugly.

"I can re-flip one of the coins," Woody said immediately. He did so and the coin came down as heads.

Woody swore. "That means I have to destroy one of my cards!"

"Get rid of your Spirit Barrier!" Joey suggested helpfully.

"I'm going to get rid of my Second Coin Toss, you idiot!" Woody said throwing Joey a dirty look.

The Second Coin Toss shattered apart. "Kaiba's turn," Woody finished irked.

Kaiba drew a card. His eye twitched. _If I play this, I can eliminate the Astral Barrier and Spirit barrier combo,_ he thought. _But at the cost of my dragon. And I have no other monsters to play except Sagi the Dark Clown! _ Kaiba's vein throbbed in the middle of his forehead. He growled. _No choice._

"A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon!" He bellowed.

Both Desperado Duelists jumped back and yipped.

"I have to send my Ultimate Dragon back into my fusion deck," Kaiba said, and he did not look happy about the prospect. "But in return I destroy all spell and trap cards on both sides of the field! But Wheeler _should_ be able to finish you off next turn with his dragon." He finished jerkily. "I also play Sagi the Dark Clown in defense mode." (600/1500) The monster laughed wickedly as it was summoned.

"Did Kaiba just sacrifice his Ultimate Dragon to save Joey?" Tea asked surprised.

"Kaiba's a good duelist," Yugi pointed out. "He cares more about winning than his pride. He knows that if Joey finishes them off next turn, then he wins the duel."

"Yeah, but his pride still matters," Tea commented. "Which means he can't be happy about this."

Kaiba turned and looked at Joey. "This is payback for defending me with your Kunai," He bit out. "_Don't screw this up._"

"I think you forgot about my Barrel Dragon," Wayne snickered. "Activate ability!"

He tossed three coins in the air. Two of them landed on heads.

"Now it's time to destroy Black Skull Dragon! So much for your last hope, Kaiba!" Wayne laughed manically. The dragon was incinerated by the blast.

"And now, since I haven't technically made an attack, I'm going to attack his facedown monster!" Wayne yelled.

"Ooh, not a good choice," Joey chided. "You destroyed my Blue Flame Swordsman!" (1800/1600)

"And when he's destroyed, the real thing takes his place! So behold, Flame Swordsman!" Joey announced. Sure enough, there was a shower of flames and Joey's favorite monster appeared on the field.

"Ha ha! And now it's my turn," Joey drew. He grinned. "And I know just how to take you losers down! But I'll need a little help from Kaiba!"

"What?" Kaiba snarled.

"I activate my Monster Reborn!" Joey yelled.

"You're going to bring back my dragon?" Kaiba wanted to know.

"Nope," Joey said cheerfully. "I'm going to bring back your Kaiser Seahorse!" (1700/1650)

"You'd have been better off with the dragon!" Woody sneered while Wayne chortled.

"I disagree," Joey grinned. "Cuz now I can sacrifice Kaiba's Kaiser Seahorse and my Swordsman of Landstar to summon Gilford the Lightning!" (2800/1400)

A hugely muscled warrior wielding a sword appeared on the field. Bolts of electricity began flowing around him. One of the duelists, an attractive blonde muscled young man looked impressed.

"Do you remember Kaiser Seahorse's special ability?" Joey asked.

"Uh, yeah, when you sacrifice it for a light monster it counts as two sacrifices!" Woody said nervously.

"Bingo!" Joey chuckled. "And when Gilford is summoned for three sacrifices, I get to wipe your field clean!"

Electricity began flowing out of Gilford's sword and struck their monsters, incinerating them.

"And he hasn't made an attack this turn," Joey smiled. "But before I do, let's give him, the Lightning Blade which will increase his power!" (3600/1400)

"And just so Flame Swordsman doesn't feel left out, we'll give him Salamandra!" A fiery serpent coiled around the Flame Swordsman's sword. (2500/1600)

"Now, I could take out all loser face over here who was trying to out gamble _me_," Joey chuckled. "But it's come to my attention that you haven't had your lifepoints touched."

Wayne jerked, looking around in panic.

"So Gilford, give him the shock of his life, and Flame Swordsman, give him the ultimate burn!" Joey yelled.

The two warriors charged forward, lightning and flame erupting from their swords. They swirled around each other and combine, finally striking Wayne directly. He screamed in agony. His lifepoints hit zero.

Joey—3100LP

Woody—Lost by Default

Kaiba—2200LP

Wayne—0LP

"Game over," Kaiba snapped. "Roland, escort these to losers to the local authorities." He looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Ha ha! Gilford, Flame Swordsman, you guys rock!" Joey said giving the monsters high fives before the holograms faded.

"Give me a break," Kaiba muttered irately.

"Good job, Joey," Yugi congratulated as the group of friends surrounded him.

"Ah, they didn't really stand a chance," Joey said beaming.

"There's _one_ thing we can agree on," Kaiba said, starting to turn and walk away. Serenity hugged her brother quickly and then ran over to Kaiba.

"Thank you for giving up your favorite monster to help my brother," She said smiling at him.

Kaiba had a look on his face that said purely, 'who is this and why is she breathing my air?'

But before he could scathingly, she went on tiptoes and lightly kissed him on the cheek.

The duelist who looked like supermodel squealed in delight. Mokuba cocked an eyebrow interestedly.

"C'mon, Serenity," Joey called out who clearly had noticed nothing.

Kaiba was taken aback. Few things had surprised him—and this had. He cleared his throat.

"Roland, send the rules I didn't get to on a 4x4 card to the duelists' rooms. I have to—go." He then briskly vacated the premises.

XXXXX


	4. Viva Las Vegas Part 1

**AN: Wheeee! Now the fun can really begin, my dears.**

**MeAndMyHarpieDeck****—Sorry if there was any confusion, duels are tough to write. More Kaiba flusters to come, I promise, and I'd love to take all the credit for writing the duels, but trust me, they wouldn't nearly be as interesting without the help of my brothers. I come up with who I want to duel each other, and Gryphinwyrm7 (who has a very good Yu Gi Oh fic by the way) and Ancientwarrior4 help me flesh it out into the duel. **

**PrincessYunariana****—I have a Serenity duel in mind, I promise. Maybe even more than one. We'll have to see. **

**Rhino7****—Ah, I have so many great Kaiba lines planned, just you wait! Well, maybe it's better to rewrite it, y'know? I'd love to rewrite some of my old Lost fics…oh the shame when I read them…(*hides head*)**

**Disclaimer—I do not own Yu Gi Oh! and a whole host of things in this fic. **

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Serenity stared in awe at the huge suite. It was gorgeous—a lovely sea blue color with golden decorations framing the room. A large mirror was placed above the king-sized bed and the bathroom was bigger than her bedroom. She couldn't believe she was staying at such an expensive hotel. She hopped onto the large bed with a loud sigh of contentment. She couldn't wait for the duels to begin tomorrow—it was so much fun watching her brother duel! The men with the guns had scared her for a moment, but her brother and Kaiba had kept their cool and taken them down with relative ease. She felt a large surge of pride at being Joey's sister.

There was a knock at the door and Serenity popped off the bed and skipped to the door. She opened it and saw Mai smiling at her cheerfully.

"Hey Mai!" Serenity said. "Where's Joey and the others?"

Mai smiled ruefully. "Joey went downstairs to try his hand at the casino—I think he wants to win some money so he can get a better room. The one Kaiba gave him was a little small. What are you up to?"

"I was going to unpack and take a shower," Serenity replied. She noticed a small paper box that Mai was holding. "What's that?"

Mai grinned. "Let's call it a very late birthday present. It is Vegas after all. Go ahead, open it up."

Serenity took the parcel and lifted the top off. A soft, pink dress lay amongst the tissue paper.

"Oh wow," Serenity breathed, tossing the box aside and holding it up. It was strapless and much shorter than she'd ever dared to wear before.

"Do you like it?" Mai asked, looking very pleased with herself.

"I—I love it," Serenity stammered. "It's beautiful—it's too much, I couldn't possibly—"

"Oh shoosh," Mai chuckled. "I wanted to, and you're going to look gorgeous in it. Go ahead and take your shower, sweetie, I'll be waiting downstairs with your brother and everyone else."

"Okay!" Serenity smiled. She closed the door and fidgeted for a minute, before turning towards the bathroom to take a long shower.

XXXXXX

"May we offer you some complimentary drinks, sir?" A very pretty young cocktail waitress showed Joey a large tray of drinks. He'd won the first round of blackjack.

"Don't mind if I do!" Joey cheered taking the largest glass.

XXXXXX

Serenity stepped outside of her room, fidgeting with the edge of her dress. It was much shorter than she'd imagined—she probably should've guessed that as Mai had picked it out. Taking a deep breath she walked towards the elevators and pushed the button. It opened immediately and she stepped in. The elevator was completely lined with mirrors—Serenity couldn't help but notice how pretty it was. Then she saw the girl—one of the duelists. Her eyes widened.

It was the female she thought looked like a supermodel. She was tall and slender, had curves in all the right places, and was as beautiful as Serenity had always wished to be. The girl smiled at her pleasantly.

"What floor?" She chirped and Serenity noticed her voice sounded like a bell.

"Lobby," Serenity replied smiling back politely. The girl pressed the L button and the two stood in silence for a moment.

At least, they did. It didn't take long for Serenity to notice that the girl was staring at her rather pointedly. Her stare was making Serenity rather uncomfortable. She offered a polite smile towards the duelist who beamed at her.

"Um…do I know you?" Serenity asked.

"No, but I like you!" The girl squealed immediately. "You're just the type of girl I like—just like me!"

Serenity blinked.

"Oh, we're going to have _such_ fun!" The girl giggled. "I can't wait!"

"O-okay," Serenity laughed nervously and the elevator doors opened. She got out of there rather hurriedly.

"See you later!" The girl sang and Serenity breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the lobby. She gulped, fidgeting with her dress again. It really wasn't cut too badly, but it stilled a little more show than she was comfortable with. Still, the rose color was very nice and felt very soft against her. She squinted, walking into the casino area, her eyes scanning for her brother.

"Joey?" She called out. "Mai? Tea? Yugi?"

Her voice was barely heard over the din within the room. Feeling awkward, Serenity backed up, intending to go back to her hotel room. Clearly, she was the first one here.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Feeling relieved, she turned expecting to see her brother and instead saw two men holding beers. They leered at her.

"Hey sweetheart," One said wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Can we buy you a drink?"

"Um, no thanks," Serenity said anxiously ducking out from under the arm. "I'm actually meeting some people."

"Oh, c'mon," He slurred and his buddy laughed. "Don't be like that."

"No, really, I have to go!" Serenity said trying to pull away but he gripped her arm even more tightly. He wrapped his arm around her waist and slobbered on her neck.

"Let go!" She cried out. The drunk continued to hoot when suddenly he stiffened and yelped. Serenity yanked herself away from him. To her surprise, she saw Kaiba, looking rather annoyed. He had the drunk's arm pinned against his back.

"Get the hell out of here," He said coldly. The drunk wrenched away and swore violently.

"I said," Kaiba spoke again, sounding especially dangerous. "Get out."

"What, you own this hotel?" The drunk's buddy spat.

"As a matter of fact," Kaiba snapped his fingers. Two large security guards appeared. "Escort these pieces of slime out of here." They grabbed the two drunks and out they went, kicking and screaming.

Kaiba barely glanced at Serenity before turning to sweep away. She sighed in relief.

"Thank you," She called to him before he could make his escape.

"I didn't do it for you," Kaiba said immediately whipping back around. He had to make _that_ clear.

She blinked at him.

"I have a reputation," He cleared his throat. "I can't have the family of my duelists being assaulted on my premises."

She blinked again. "Oh. Well, thank you anyway!"

Kaiba grunted.

"I'm not sure you remember me," Serenity said suddenly. "I met you at the Battle City tournament—my name's Serenity. You probably know Joey's my brother."

Kaiba grunted again. He hadn't actually recalled her name till now. "I knew it was some virtue name," He muttered.

She smiled at him.

Kaiba really disliked how her smile pleased him. He eyed her disapprovingly. "Aren't you a little young to be here on your own?"

Serenity fiddled with a strand of her auburn hair. "Well, I was supposed to be meeting Joey and everyone here…" She trailed off.

"Well, where is he?" Kaiba said impatiently. As if on cue, a loud Brooklyn accented voice interrupted them.

"Heeeeeeeey, Serenity, little sister!"

Kaiba and Serenity turned in unison to see a very drunk Joey stumble towards them.

"Wheeler, keep a better eye on your sister," Kaiba snapped.

Joey promptly ignored Kaiba. "Look how much I've won!" He grinned shoving a large wad of cash in Serenity's face. "And they keep giving me drinks…Kaiba's got real nice servers, every time I win, they give me a free drink!"

Serenity laughed mildly. "I can see that. Where's Mai?"

"Someone say my name?" Mai joined them. Serenity could see by the glassiness in her violet eyes that Mai hadn't strayed too far from the bar either. "Oh, Serenity, sweetie! And…Kaiba!" She looked at Kaiba confusedly and Kaiba mentally cursed himself for sticking around.

"Would you like me to buy you a cocktail, sweetie?" Mai said generously.

"No, I'm underage," Serenity admitted. She was a very truthful person.

"But you're not underage in Japan," Joey pointed out, nearly tripping. He swung an arm around Mai's shoulders to keep him steady.

Serenity looked at him. "But we're not in Japan," She said shyly, causing Kaiba to snort.

Speaking of…Kaiba turned to walk off. She was with her brother and friends now, he could leave. Why the hell had he interfered anyway? It was her own damn fault coming down here alone, wearing that stupid cocktail napkin. He really should go back upstairs to his room and make sure everything was going smoothly—but he turned around when he heard Serenity speak again.

"Isn't that…?" She said and Kaiba saw a tall American striding towards them.

"Oh God," Mai groaned taking another sip of her martini.

"Mai Valentine!" Jean-Claude Magnum beamed at Mai and Serenity wondered how someone could smile like that showing all of their teeth. "I somehow knew we'd meet again, snookums. I—" His smile vanished when he noticed Joey's arm around Mai's shoulders.

"You," He growled at Joey. Joey blinked at him.

"He looks familiar," He said to no one in particular.

"It's Jean-Claude Magnum," Mai said darkly. "I kicked his butt right before Duelist Kingdom—I mean, Battle City. It was Battle City, wasn't it?" She asked the ceiling thoughtfully before taking another sip or her martini.

Jean-Claude Magnum chose to ignore Mai. "Get your arm off of my future bride!" He demanded shoving Joey away from her. Joey looked highly affronted.

"_Your_ future bride?" He said indignantly. "How about I—"

"I challenge you to a duel! Winner gets Mai's hand!" Jean-Claude demanded again.

"You're on!" Joey said his eyes flashing. Mai looked like she was about to say something but then slumped on a bench to watch.

"Joey, are you sure this is a good idea?" Serenity asked timidly as both opponents activated their duel disks.

"I could beat this guy in my sleep," Joey said confidently, but not before tripping over his own feet. Kaiba decided that watching Joey duel intoxicated sounded like more fun than going over the tournament plans and did not retreat upstairs.

XXXXX

"I can't find Joey anywhere," Tea commented joining Yugi who looked thoroughly put out. She glanced at him. "Where's Tristan?"

"I think he's looking for Serenity," Yugi said morosely.

"What's up?" Tea asked, noticing his face.

"They won't let me near the Duel Monsters tables!" Yugi complained. "I don't want to gamble—I just want to duel!"

Tea snorted but before she could reply they both heard, "Well, I don't really blame them. You are kind of the King of Games, right?"

Duke Devlin joined them grinning. "I figured you guys would be at this tournament."

"Duke!" Yugi said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited as a special guest—this is one of the largest casinos that's featuring Dungeon Dice Monsters," Duke replied eyeing Yugi and Tea. "Are you two on a date?"

Both parties blushed. "Um, we're trying to find Joey and Tristan," Yugi said hurriedly.

Duke's eyebrows perked. "Really? Is Serenity here?"

XXXXX

"I'll go first," Magnum announced. "I'll set a card facedown and play Lady Ninja Yae." (1100/200) A beautiful ninja monster appeared before them with long sea green hair.

"That's—that's—oh, it's my turn!" Joey said jovially. "Let's see…I know, I'll play Raigeki!" A bolt of lightning came down and fried the ninja.

"Next I summon my Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200) in attack mode," Joey continued accepting another drink from the cocktail waitress.

"Pay attention to the duel, you slacker!" Magnum yelled, thoroughly annoyed that Joey was getting even _more_ drunk.

"Now I play my Graceful Dice spell card!" Joey said. "It'll increase my Swordsman's attack points by the number on the die! Go DICE ROLL!"

The little fairy tossed the die across the floor. It landed on a six.

"Swordsman of Landstar, (3000/1200) attack his lifepoints directly!" Joey yelled. "Oh, and I put this card facedown." He had a bit of a time getting the card into the slot. His coordination was decreasing rapidly.

Joey—4000LP

Jean-Claude Magnum—1000LP

Magnum did not look amused. "I play Costdown!" He snarled. "This spell card will let me discard one card from my hand in order to lower the star levels of every other monster in my hand. Now I summon Ansatsu!" (1700/1200) "Attack his Swordsman of Landstar!"

The Graceful Dice only lasted one turn, meaning that Joey's Swordsman of Landstar was back at 500 attack points and 1200 defense points.

The ninja did a flip through the air and flung its daggers at the Swordsman.

"Activate…" Joey looked stumped for a moment as he stared at his duel disk. He seemed to have forgotten which button activated his trap. He remembered at the last possible second. "Go Skull Dice!"

"This card will divide your monster's attack points by the number that comes up," Joey said breezily and the little demon tossed the die into the air. It landed on a five.

Ansatsu—(340/1200)

The Swordsman immediately flew back and stabbed the ninja with its little sword and Magnum's lifepoints dropped to 840.

Joey Wheeler—4000LP

Jean-Claude Magnum—840LP

"I play one card face down," Magnum said through gritted teeth. _My _Mirror Force_ trap will get this bastard for sure!_

"Okay," Joey said cheerfully downing another drink. "This little number I won from my very first Battle City duel! Thanks Kaiba!"

Kaiba took a step backwards almost instinctively.

"Meet my Jinzo!" He said slapping it on the duel disk and then started giggling. "Oh, I need to make a tribute. That could've been messy. I can sacrifice my Swordsman of Landstar!"

"No, no!" Magnum said starting to panic.

Jinzo (2400/1500) appeared on the field looking rather incredulous at his master's close call.

"Now Jinzo," Joey looked deep in thought. "Check to see if any of those cards facedown are traps, and if they are, destroy them!"

Before he even said the word 'destroy', Jinzo had zapped all three cards.

Magnum looked horrified to find his field completely empty.

"Now, you don't have any monsters in the field, so unless you have a Kuriboh in your hand—unlikely—then Jinzo, attack his lifepoints!" Joey ordered. "Psycho Shocker Strike!"

Joey—4000LP

Jean-Claude Magnum—0LP

"Your turn!" Joey sang.

"I'm out of lifepoints you idiot!" Magnum shrieked.

"Oh, I guess it's my turn," Joey said blinking. Magnum stalked off muttering something about 'how did Mai fall for _him_?'

"No one likes a quitter, Magnum," Joey chided watching him walk off. Jinzo faded from the field. "Oh, I guess that means I win. I do win, right?" He looked at Kaiba expectantly.

"Yes Wheeler, surprise above all surprises, you won," Kaiba snorted.

"Good job, Joey!" Serenity applauded.

"Oh, cool!" Joey cheered. "Did Mai see? Cuz that was pretty impressive seeing as I'm completely smashed right now."

"I saw," Mai said tilting her martini glass towards him smiling. Joey promptly strode towards her, lifted her in the air in triumph and spun her around.

"I won!" He grinned. "And I have the best idea ever!"

"What's that, big brother?" Serenity asked amusedly, noting with glee that Mai looked a little flushed at this display of affection Joey had given her. Kaiba was now eyeing the elevators, about ready to make a hasty escape from the loser squad.

"We were dueling for Mai's hand, riiiiiight?" He beamed at Mai. She looked confused.

"I won your hand! So let's get married!" Joey proclaimed.

Mai looked shocked for about half a second. Then she shrugged and said, "Okay."

"Then let's find a priest! We need a priest! Or a pastor! A clergyman of some kind! And a ring!" Joey held up fistfuls of cash. "Let's go!" He grabbed Mai's hand and started trotting towards the door. Serenity looked half delighted half apprehensive.

"I guess we should follow them," She said quickly. Kaiba gave her a look that seemed to say, 'what do you mean, "we"'? But Serenity didn't notice and she grabbed his arm and started towing him towards the door, following her brother and Mai.

Kaiba fully intended on telling Serenity that it was her brother, she could deal with it, but her small hand on his wrist distracted him and he seemed to have no choice but to follow her.

XXXXX

Tristan had planned on asking Serenity if she wanted to get a bite to eat, but then had come up with a brilliant plan. He would go to the florist, buy her some flowers, and then ask her to dinner! Serenity loved flowers. When he'd made his purchase, he stepped out of the florist, flowers in hand and suddenly froze.

He saw Serenity disappear into a wedding chapel.

And she was…she was…_holding hands with Kaiba!_

XXXXX

"Would you let go of my arm?" Kaiba said annoyed.

"I'm sorry," Serenity said breathlessly. "They're faster than I give them credit for!"

"Well, it's not _my_ problem," Kaiba said stiffly as the Elvis impersonator pronounced Joey and Mai man and wife. Mai Valentine was now Mai Wheeler.

"It _is_ romantic," Serenity smiled as Joey gave Mai the customary wedding kiss.

Kaiba snorted disparagingly. "Maybe if they weren't drunk. I'm going now, goodbye." He then briskly walked out of the wedding chapel quite intent on avoiding Serenity Wheeler for the duration of the tournament.

XXXXX

"We ordered the honeymoon suite," Joey grinned, holding up the fistfuls of cash, reminding Serenity he had won a lot of money. "See ya in the morning, sis!" And with that, he and his new bride disappeared into the hotel room.

Serenity sighed with relief—at least while they were, er, consummating their marriage she wouldn't be chasing them across Vegas. She was rather pleased that she'd played this role in getting those two together. At least till morning broke, that is.

Her cell phone rang and Serenity answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Serenity!" A familiar voice intoned.

"Mokuba?" Serenity ventured.

"Yup," Mokuba replied cheerfully. "Listen, I just ran into Duke Devlin. He was asking for you. Do you think you could meet him at Tre Bella Café?"

"Oh," Serenity blinked. Duke was a friend of her brother's, but she'd liked him well enough. "Well, okay. Sure. Can you give me directions?"

XXXXX

Kaiba's cell phone rang. Irritated, he glanced at it, and seeing that it was Mokuba, answered.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Seto!" Mokuba said delightedly. "Hey, I'm at Tre Bella Café, and I forgot my debit card so I can't get a ride home. D'you think you could pick me up?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll be there in ten minutes."

XXXXX

Mokuba shut his cell phone and grinned.


	5. Viva Las Vegas Part 2

**AN: Hello all, sorry for the slow update. I've promised myself I'll update this at least once a week, sound fair? Oh, and Tre Bella Café is actually not open this late so if you're ever in Vegas, go at sane hours. But we'll just say that I took over the café that night and decided to extend its hours. :D**

**XoXoDrAgOnPrInCeSsSoXoXo****- I like you cuz you reviewed me twice just to make me update quicker. You get a gold star. **

**Rhino7****- If you think they're funny now, wait till they wake up hung over and in the same bed completely nude. I love how we communicate by sending each other random YouTube vids. We're the best fanfiction buddies ever!**

**Anonymous****- No fair, you can stalk my fic but I can't stalk your profile cuz you're anonymous? (*pouts*) Thanks for the praise, hope you enjoy! May I call you A Nonny Mouse? (*Kaiba punts me in the head*) Or not.**

**Yunsi****- Thanks! It doesn't even have to be dueling for crying out loud, it could be any kind of game for Yu Gi Oh!—it's always bothered me. Yu Gi Oh! isn't shojo, it's shonen—it's not wholly based on the characters, there's always some kind of game-y plot going on.**

**AliceElizabeth1****—I know it's been overused a little bit too much, but that's because it's something he'd do. But you'd be surprised at the unforeseen forces at work besides Mokuba.**

**Disclaimer- I own nothing for now. It's so weird writing fanfictions with none of my OC's in them. Oh well.**

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"I can't find Joey anywhere," Yugi said to Tea as they met up. "Any luck with you?"

Tea shook her head. "Why don't we check his room?" The pair of them headed towards the elevators.

"You there," A female voice called out. Yugi turned to see a tall brunette standing before him. Her hair was in a tight plait down her back and she wore enormous horn-rimmed glasses.

"Yes?" He asked.

"You're Yugi Mutou, correct?" She wanted to know.

"That's right," Yugi answered, still wondering what this girl wanted. He noticed the duel disk on her arm and deduced that she must be one of the duelists in the tournament.

"My name is Sophia Hedwig," She told him bossily. "I greatly anticipate our duel."

"Well, I'm actually one of the judges," Yugi said shyly. "If you win the tournament, you get to choose which of the judges you want to duel—either me, Mai Valentine, or Kaiba."

Sophia waved that unnecessary detail away. "I know that. And I've already chosen you to duel when I win." She gave him a firm smile. "I've always had a bit of thing for heroes."

Tea frowned and Yugi blushed. "Oh, I'm—I'm not a hero," He muttered.

"Ridiculous," Sophia said crisply. "When you were dueling Raphael you gave up your own soul rather than the Pharaoh's. If that's not heroic, I don't know what is. I shall see you later." She then walked off.

"Who does she think she is?" Tea demanded indignantly.

"How did she know that?" Yugi said confusedly. "Have you told anyone about that?"

"Of course not," Tea snapped and Yugi decided he'd better get off the subject. The two of them entered the elevators to the twelfth floor, where everyone was staying. Yugi went to Joey's door and knocked.

No answer.

"Joey? You in there?" Yugi knocked again.

"Maybe he's asleep," Tea suggested.  
"Wrong!" A female voice giggled. "He won't be sleeping much tonight."

Yugi and Tea turned to see a very attractive girl standing and grinning. She looked a lot like some kind of supermodel—though Yugi thought she looked a bit like Tea.

"Another duelist?" Tea said sourly glancing at the duel disk on the girl's wrist.

"That's right!" The girl chirped. "My name's Carina Heart."

"Do you know where Joey is?" Yugi asked.

Carina giggled again and her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Sure do! He got a different room. I'll take you!" She led them to the elevators again. As they stepped inside, she stared at them pointedly.

"Can we help you?" Tea said wryly.

"I certainly can!" Carina said delightedly. "Are you two…_together_?"

This was the second time someone had asked Yugi and Tea this and it caused them to blush again.

"N-no," Yugi stammered.

"But you will be!" Carina sang. The elevator doors opened and Carina gestured toward an ornate living room. "This is the deluxe suite called The Sanctuary! You need a special key card to even get on the floor!" She beamed at them and the doors shut.

"She was weird," Tea said fervently. "Are all the amateur duelists here nutjobs? And how'd she get Joey's key card to his suite?"

"Well, Sophia seemed okay, just kind of overconfident. And I still don't get how she knew about me giving up my soul for the Pharaoh!" Yugi commented.

"Oh, so you're already on a first name basis, is that it?" Tea fumed. Yugi didn't notice as they entered the kitchenette area. They then went towards the bedroom door.

"He's probably asleep," Tea commented.

"Hey…the door isn't shut all the way!" Yugi said to Tea. "I'll poke my head in to see if Joey's really in there."

Tea watched Yugi cautiously enter the bedroom and call out Joey's name. She then heard a loud yelp and Yugi came bolting out, slamming the door behind him. His face was bright red.

"What…?" Tea asked.

Yugi gulped. "Uh…Joey's in there. And he's kinda busy so let's go really really far away so I can gouge my eyes out, okay?"

XXXXX

Kaiba entered the café. It was a small little place—a more sentimental person might call it 'cute'. Kaiba noticed a few people eating decadent looking cakes and pastries—yes, this seemed like a place Mokuba would frequent. He scanned the room for his brother and frowned when he didn't see anyone. He was about to whip out his phone and call him when the woman at the counter called out, "Can we help you sir?"

Kaiba paused and decided he might as well buy something to keep the café owners off his back. He ordered a black coffee and flipped open his phone, and dialed his brother again.

He got Mokuba's voicemail.

He was starting to get irritated. He sat down at a table and called again.

At that moment, the doors opened again and Serenity Wheeler stepped inside the café. She blinked at her surroundings—and started in surprise when she saw Kaiba.

Kaiba, who was just taking a sip of his coffee while mentally cursing Mokuba, choked.

"Kaiba?" She blinked again.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Well—have you seen Duke Devlin? He was supposed to meet me here," Serenity replied fidgeting awkwardly.

Kaiba felt a faint stab of annoyance. "No," He said shortly.

"Oh," Serenity said feeling embarrassed. "Well—Mokuba said he'd—"

"Mokuba?" Kaiba jerked.

"Yes, he called me and said that Duke wanted to—"

Kaiba cut her off by standing straight up and flipping open his phone again. This time when he called, Mokuba picked up.

"Mokuba?" Kaiba growled.

"Hey Seto!" Mokuba said cheerfully.

"Where the hell are you, I thought I was picking you up," Kaiba growled again. "And what is Serenity Wheeler doing here?"

"Oh, well it turns out, I had some spare cash in my pocket so I decided to take a cab down to one of the shows here," Mokuba said brightly. "I must've forgotten to call and tell you. So sorry!"

Serenity had sat down at Kaiba's previous table. She ordered a strawberry cheesecake and watched Kaiba feeling anxious.

"Mokuba, I want you to take a cab _back_ to the hotel and meet me there, understand?" Kaiba ground out.

"Oh, I can't do that," Mokuba remarked. "I used up all my money. I kind of need you to pick me up again, I'm at Sven and Roger's Magical Menagerie show."

"Mokuba—" Kaiba started to snarl.

"By the way, turns out Duke Devlin is _not _going to meet Serenity at Tre Bella Café. So could you give her a lift too? It's kind of mean to just leave her there."

"She can find her own way back to the hotel," Kaiba snarled again and Serenity's ears perked.

"You can't leave a girl at a café alone all by herself," Mokuba chided. "And Joey can't pick her up, he's intoxicated. So's Mai. And Yugi and Tea aren't at the hotel; I don't know where they are. You really want her to go all the way back all by herself?"

"Mokuba, what the hell are you trying to do?" Kaiba demanded.

"Just give her a ride, Seto. Oh, and don't come here for another fifteen minutes, the show's not over yet. Order a pastry, they've got really good food! See you in fifteen!"

"Mokuba—!" Kaiba yelled but Mokuba had already hung up.

XXXXXX

Serenity watched Kaiba's expression. He had gone from slightly annoyed to full out furious in a matter of minutes. She wondered what Mokuba had said about her.

Kaiba glared at her.

"Did Mokuba say anything about Duke?" Serenity asked meekly.

"Your boyfriend isn't going to meet you here, it was a stupid prank," Kaiba snapped. "And now I'm stuck hauling you back. Hurry up and finish your food so I can pick up Mokuba and head back to the hotel."

Serenity blinked. "Duke isn't my boyfriend. I just hadn't seen him for a while so I thought—"

"I don't care," Kaiba snapped at her again. Serenity fell silent and took another bite of her food. Kaiba leaned his head against the palm of his hand and drummed his fingers against the table.

"Would you like a bite?" Serenity offered, trying to be friendly. "It's really good." Before Kaiba could bite her head off again, she cut a small piece and set it on the napkin in front of him. Kaiba stared at it distastefully and Serenity took a sip of water. She was feeling rather nervous and didn't want to make Kaiba mad again. She glanced at the napkin and noticed with relief that the small bite of cheesecake was gone but Kaiba didn't say anything to her.

She finished off the cake and called the waitress over to pay for it, already digging in her purse for the cash. Kaiba scowled. Before she could pay, Kaiba snatched the check.

"It'll go faster if I pay," He said grumpily taking out his debit card.

"But I can…" Serenity started to say but Kaiba silenced her with a look. She felt bad that she was causing him this much trouble and yet a pleasant unfamiliar fluttering feeling erupted in her stomach as he paid for her food. He then stood.

"Let's go," He said darkly and Serenity stood as well, following him out of the café.

XXXXXX

"Wait a second…Joey was…with…Mai?" Tea said shocked. She'd known from the very beginning that Joey and Mai harbored feelings for each other, but she'd expected Joey to be too dense to do anything about it. She practically had to force him to say good bye to her properly after Battle City and had badgered him repeatedly when he unknowingly hurt Mai's feelings.

"Oh yeah," Yugi said groaning. "I really don't want this mental image, Tea, can we talk about something else?"

"It's just really hard to believe," Tea continued thoughtfully. "Did Joey say anything? Did either of them say—?"

"I don't know and I don't wanna know!" Yugi wailed. "I've been scarred for life here! Can we _please_ talk about something else?"

"Stop being a baby," Tea said firmly. "I'm glad for Joey. It's a beautiful natural act—"

"It's a part of Joey I never wanted to see, Tea!" Yugi wailed again. "Let's move OFF the topic!"

XXXXXX

"Who are Sven and Roger?" Serenity asked curiously as she and Kaiba stepped out of the limo.

"Some hack entertainers," Kaiba said coldly. "Apparently they're duelists too. Start looking around for Mokuba."

Serenity obeyed and started peering about the crowd. Kaiba was already dialing his cell.

Mokuba picked up on the first ring. "Hey bro!"

"Where are you?" Kaiba barked.

"There are three seats open in the front, I had them reserved," Mokuba said cheerfully ignoring him. "Take a seat with Serenity and enjoy the show, Seto!"

"Mokuba, if you're not here in five seconds I'm leaving without you," Kaiba said scowling.

"Pff. Nice bluff. Take your seats, I'll be with you soon." The phone call ended and Kaiba cursed fluidly causing Serenity to blush. Mokuba was right—Kaiba wasn't going to leave without knowing for sure his brother wasn't there.

"C'mon," He grumbled to Serenity and they walked towards their seats. The lights dimmed and Sven and Roger appeared on stage.

It turned out, much to Kaiba's further irritation, that Mokuba was not in the empty third seat, but having no choice he sat down, ignoring the show, tapping his fingers on his seat. Serenity watched Sven and Roger do several tricks with a white tiger and wondered why Mokuba was dragging her and Kaiba all over Vegas.

"For our next trick!" Sven proclaimed. "Ve need a beautiful young lady!" He smoothed his ice white blonde hair and scanned the crowed. He spotted Serenity.

"How about you, beautiful lady?" He asked Serenity charmingly.

Serenity flushed. She hated crowds and had a terrible stage fright. "Um, no thanks," She mumbled.

Kaiba, who was still looking around for Mokuba, wasn't paying attention.

"Don't be a coward, up you go!" Roger yelled grabbing Serenity's hand and yanking her onstage. Roger was a beefy looking man with dark hair.

"Oh please, I'd really rather not…" Serenity said helplessly but Roger bullied her further onstage.

"Ve love ze beautiful ladies," Sven said nuzzling her. "Don't be afraid!"

Kaiba realized with a snap that Serenity was no longer next to him and was currently standing onstage, looking terrified. He stood up.

"But I don't want to!" Serenity said wishing for her brother. "Please let me go!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. The stupid girl really needed to know how to say no. "She said she didn't want to," Kaiba snapped at them. "Pick someone else."

Sven and Roger eyed Kaiba.

"Ah! Your boyfriend defends you!" Sven bellowed theatrically. "Is he willing to risk our WHITE TIGER TO SAVE HIS BELOVED?!"

"Oh for the love of—" Kaiba snarled stepping onstage himself. Sven and Roger's white tiger growled at him menacingly. Kaiba glared at the tiger and to the crowd's surprise, the tiger backed off. Had Yugi or any of his friends been there, they would not have been surprised that Kaiba could out glare a tiger.

"Apparently he does risk our tiger," Roger gave an annoyed look at the tiger who spoiled his act. The tiger contentedly lay down. "But vill he risk—A DUEL?" A cavalcade of lights appeared and Sven and Roger and they activated two duel disks on their arms.

"Ve vin, ve vin ze beautiful lady. You vin, you get your lady friend back. Do you agree, mein Herr?" Sven bellowed and Kaiba rolled his eyes and activated his duel disk. The crowd gasped in excitement. Serenity watched Kaiba in surprise. Was he—was he actually dueling for her?

XXXXXX

"You don't stand a chance against us!" Sven snickered.

Kaiba snorted. "Do you know who I am?"

"Zis duel is two on von!" Roger proclaimed. "You have no chance!"

"Oh, look at that. They can count," Kaiba sneered.

Sven—4000LP

Roger—4000LP

Kaiba—4000LP

"I shall start vith my All-Seeing White Tiger in attack mode!" (1300/500) Sven announced playing a card. "And zen I play a card face down.

"And I'll start vith my White Magical Hat (1000/1000) in attack mode!" Roger continued summoning his monster.

Kaiba glanced at his hand. "I summon my Lord of Dragons in attack mode," (1200/1100) Kaiba said. "And next I'll activate my Flute of Summoning Dragon, to summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" (3000/2500)

"And I'll put two cards face down," Kaiba smirked. "Attack!"

"Trigger trap card Threatening Roar!" Sven cried out panicked. "Threatening Roar scares your monsters and prevents zem from attacking!"

Kaiba folded his arms and waves his hand dismissively, indicating that he'd ended his turn.

"I shall place my Soul Tiger in defense mode," (0/2100) Sven started his turn. An ethereal looking tiger appeared on the field. "And svitch my All-Seeing White Tiger to defense mode as well. Roger's turn!"

Roger drew. "I play my Dark Magic Curtain!" He cried out.

Sven—4000LP

Roger—2000LP

Kaiba—4000LP

Kaiba snorted. "You're not worthy of using that card," He said coolly. It was clear Kaiba didn't think anyone but Yugi should use the Dark Magician. Roger ignored him and slapped the Dark Magician on his duel disk. (2500/21000) It was not the same Dark Magician Yugi used, but was one of the purple magicians with the blonde hair.

"Zat's not all," Roger informed him. "I eqvuip him vith Magic Formula! This vill boost my Dark Magician's attack!" (3000/2100)

"Next I play Knives! To destroy your Blue-Eyes!" A thousand knives appeared behind the Dark Magician knockoff and began flying towards the Blue-Eyes.

Kaiba smirked again. "Nice try, idiot." The knives dissolved to dust before any of them reached the dragon. The Lord of Dragons chuckled.

"I have von more spell card!" Roger cried out dramatically.

Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"My Sword of Dark Destruction! Sure," He said shrugging. "My Dark Magician loses 200 defense points but he gains 400 attack points!" (3400/1900)

"But your Blue-Eyes isn't ze biggest threat on the field. Your dragon lord is. So Magician, attack ze dragon lord!"

"You've triggered my quick play spell card," Kaiba said wickedly. "Shrink."

"Zat just means my Dark Magician is at 1700. He's still stronger zan your dragon lord," Roger scowled.

"I'm not using it on your magician," Kaiba sneered. "I'm using it on my Lord of Dragons." (600/1100)

"Vy vould you veaken your monster?" Roger demanded.

"Because now he's weak enough to carry a virus," Kaiba said. The attack struck the Lord of Dragons and he shattered apart. Tiny virus particles, looking almost like dust particles began to float around the field. "Specifically, a crush card virus." Sven and Roger's duel disks began to beep.

Sven—4000LPVIRUS

Roger—2000LPVIRUS

Kaiba—4000LP

The Dark Magician dropped his sword and staff and began gasping, as if he was choking on something. He then disintegrated before their very eyes.

"You're lucky your wimpy little tigers are too weak to be infected," Kaiba informed them. "The Magician on the other hand…and this virus will infect every one of your monsters in your deck with an attack higher than 1500. Too bad, so sad."

"And I believe it's my turn," Kaiba said genially. "And I don't have a virus." He drew a card.

"Vorse Raider!" Kaiba yelled and the monster appeared in a shower of light. (1900/1200) "Attack Roger's White Magical Hat!" The White Magical Hat was destroyed with one fell swoop of the Vorse Raider's axe.

Sven—4000LPVIRUS

Roger—1100LPVIRUS

Kaiba—4000LP

"Blue-Eyes attack his lifepoints directly!" Kaiba bellowed.

"Soul Tiger, defend!" Sven said immediately. The tiger leapt in the middle of the blast and exploded.

"Pathetic," Kaiba said disgustedly. "You two are worse than Wheeler. Now I'm placing two card face down." He slid these cards into his duel disk. Serenity looked indignant at the crack about her brother but she still observed Kaiba with growing admiration.

"My turn!" Sven announced.

"Yeah, and I win the duel," Kaiba remarked.

"What?! No you do not!" Sven said indignantly.

"Yeah, I do. I trigger my first of two trap cards," Kaiba commented. "My Ring of Destruction!"

"So you can destroy von monster on ze field and deduct from everyone's lifepoints its attack points. All zat's zere is my tiger!" Sven snapped.

"Really? Did you forget the giant Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field?" Kaiba inquired. The ring clamped around his own dragon's neck. It roared in agony.

"But you'll only deal 3000 to each of us! I'll still be in the duel!" Sven fired back.

"Normally, that would be true. But it's not this time. Because you see my other card is a counter trap known as Barrel Behind the Door!" Kaiba said triumphantly. "I can activate this card anytime I take damage to my lifepoints through a card effect. I take no damage and you take the damage instead of me. So you both just lost 6000 lifepoints. And unless my math's off you two idiots don't have 6000 lifepoints."

The dragon exploded. Sven and Roger paled. They roared in pain as their points dropped to zero.

"I win," Kaiba smirked.

Sven—0LPVIRUS

Roger—0LPVIRUS

Kaiba—4000LPNOVIRUS

Serenity beamed and shoved her way through towards Kaiba. "Um…thank you," She smiled at him. "I guess you're saving me a lot today."

Kaiba grunted. "We're leaving this idiot fest, come on."

Though Sven and Roger had lost, they never lost a moment to milk it, even as Kaiba and Serenity were walking offstage. "Ah ladies and gentleman, ze courageous duelist has von his lady friend back amidst all odds! Vat vill happen next?!"

XXXXX

"As for you," Kaiba said peevishly. "You need to learn how to say no and stop acting like such wimpy victim."

Serenity bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"Like that!" Kaiba pointed out snappishly. "Learn to speak up for yourself, will you? No one's going to take you seriously if you don't gain some independence. Not everyone can save you all the time. If you want something, tell someone, if you don't want someone to harass you, _tell them so._ Let the world know what you want and deserve. Staying silent and subservient is how people take advantage of you!"

Serenity gave him a determined look. "You're right. I'll—I'll try harder! And tomorrow, I'll ask Joey if he'll teach me some moves to fight off all these guys."

Kaiba snorted. Wheeler would probably teach her some idiot street punches and kicks that might work for a delinquent but not a seventeen-year-old girl. If she wanted to learn something that would actually _work _for her, then she should—

Kaiba's phone rang. He answered it.

"Yeah? Uh huh…I figured. All right. Thanks Roland." He flicked his phone off.

"What is it?" Serenity asked.

"Roland. I had him trace Mokuba's cell phone. He's been in the hotel the entire time. We're going back now." Kaiba said promptly and grabbed Serenity's wrist, dragging her to the limo. Serenity blushed at this contact.

They stepped inside the limo and Kaiba looked pensively out the window. Serenity got nervous again. She glanced at his profile, trying not to let him notice she was staring. He was cold—so different from her warm brother! His eyes were really intimidating. And yet…

And yet he'd stood up for her. Twice tonight. Serenity realized with a gulp that she was beginning to have feelings for Seto Kaiba. The realization made her blush again and caused her stomach to flip. He'd _dueled_ for her. For her. Hadn't that been what she'd been wishing for when Joey dueled for Mai a week ago? She bit her lip. She didn't exactly have the best chance. She didn't consider herself very pretty, she wasn't rich, she didn't play Duel Monsters (though Joey was teaching her) very well, Kaiba hated her brother and Joey hated him, and she probably had pissed Kaiba off very much this evening.

But she still wanted to tell him. Hadn't he just told her if she wanted something or had something on her mind, to let the world know?

XXXXX

They finally reached the hotel. Kaiba sighed with relief and then started towards the stairs to go rip his younger brother a new one.

"Um…Kai…Seto?"

Kaiba jerked violently and then stared at her. Had Serenity Wheeler actually dared to use his Christian name? Kaiba was so shocked he didn't know what to say.

"I wanted to thank you again," She fidgeted with a lock of auburn hair. She glanced at him, her green eyes wide. "And I think—I, I know I don't know you very well, but—what you said—it meant a lot to me. So—so I want to tell you that—I think…I think I'm starting to have feelings for you. I think I like you." She peered up at him, her knees shaking.

Kaiba looked at her. There was a very long pause.

And then Kaiba looked deeply into her eyes, took a breath, and said,

"No."

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**AN: You should all thank my brother because I rousted him out of bed tonight to help me write the duel. Review, review!**


	6. Waking Up in Vegas

**AN: Haha, I met my deadline! Whoo hoo! This will be a rare chapter where no dueling will take place. Yup, it's nothing but exposition and dialogue. Hey, not every Yu Gi Oh! episode has a duel! **

**SSBMercurious2****- Oh lovely, I was wondering whether you were enjoying it or not. Yays! I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

**Larka the WhiteShe-Wolf****- Ooh, a new reviewer. It took me two seconds to get who Ren was.**

**Kaiba: Dumbass.**

**Me: Shut up Kaiba, or I'll write you in a dog suit. (Kaiba shuts up) How do you mean change her attitude towards things?**

**Betzmyn****- Another new reviewer! I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT A LOT! :D Hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**Rhino7****- We'll see Joey and Mai soon, no worries. And hopefully sober soon. And darling, I put in that Supernatural reference just for you! **

**Foleycatheter****- It means a lot to me that you think it keeps well to the original canon—Serenity/Kaiba is my first ship that isn't strictly canon and it's bizarre writing them. o_O**

**ShhImNotMivi****- If you're not Mivi, who are you? (*suspicious eyes*) I'm glad you like, Kaiba is freaking tough to write. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**A Nonny Mouse****- Yeah, Yugi has horrible luck with that kind of thing as we'll see in continuation…LOL**

**Disclaimer—I do not own Yu Gi Oh!. **

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Seto Kaiba had a migraine and it was all Serenity Wheeler's fault.

He never slept as a general rule during his tournaments. He was always too filled with adrenaline—plans and ideas continuously ran through his mind like a hologram on the fritz. But this tournament was the first where there were no psycho Egyptians trying to take over the world, no god cards, no supposed 'magical' problems that would cause Yugi and his friends to start whining about saving the world, no closeted Germans from his past trying to overthrow him—things were actually going smoothly for once. He'd even considered lying down and attempting sleep for a few hours.

And then _she_ had to come along and ruin everything.

To her credit, she had not burst into tears or made a scene when he'd flatly rejected her. She'd just sort of stared at him. He hadn't stuck around long after; he'd quickly swept away, a strange feeling erupting in the pit of his stomach. He tried to identify the feeling, but was unable to.

Emotions were such a nuisance.

He'd stormed into his hotel room in search of Mokuba, but his younger brother (perhaps wisely) had vacated the premises. Good thing to, he thought grouchily, because Mokuba was going to _get it_ once Kaiba got a hold of him. It was really Mokuba's fault, after all. This idiotic match up…what had Mokuba expected anyway? This was Wheeler's sister, for crying out loud. _Wheeler's_ sister. There was just no way he'd…maybe if she wasn't related to the mutt, he'd consider it…

No, he wouldn't consider it! Kaiba shook his head angrily. He had no time for girls, or any of that crap. He had a business to run, a tournament to oversee, an overly rambunctious younger brother to rein in…

Speaking of Mokuba, once he'd found him, he was going to _kill him_—

Kaiba stopped abruptly, nearly running into someone. It was one of his duelists—he couldn't remember the name. The duelist looked in his early twenties. He wore nothing but black and had ice white skin. His eyes were like dark tunnels—an intimidating gaze that put even Kaiba slightly on edge. Kaiba frowned, trying to remember his name.

The duelist stepped aside and Kaiba started to walk past. Then the duelist spoke.

"She'll get you in the end, you know."

Kaiba froze. He turned and glared at the duelist. "What?" He snapped.

The duelist was not remotely fazed by Kaiba's cold glare, and actually returned it if not more coldly. "She'll get you in the end. You have no choice. She got me. She'll get you too."

Kaiba stared at him, his icy glare becoming one of bewilderment. He was about to demand what the hell he was talking about when a bright-looking girl wearing a sundress popped out of nowhere, took the duelists' arm, and disappeared into the lobby with him.

This left Kaiba feeling very unsettled.

XXXXX

Serenity felt extremely stupid.

What had she expected, really? For him to sweep her into his arms and confess that he too felt romantically towards her? No. She somehow knew that he'd say something like that affirmative 'no'. Then why had she bothered telling him at all? She bit her lip. Because she wanted him to know. She had no other reason than that. Sighing, she went to the elevators and rode them upstairs. She came to her room and changed into a soft pink A-shirt and white pink pajama bottoms patterned with Shining Friendship monsters. They'd been a birthday gift from Tea. She flopped onto her king sized bed and tried to sleep.

No good.

She pummeled her pillow. Kaiba didn't like her like that—stop thinking about it! She had a big day tomorrow. Joey would need her support.

She still saw Kaiba's chilly eyes in her mind's eye. She groaned. How could she face him tomorrow?

And yet…

Why had he dueled for her? Serenity sat up on her knees as the thought occurred to her. She knew from Joey that Kaiba only dueled if there was something to gain from it—he loathed dueling people below him. Sven and Roger were obviously not experienced duelists.

Then why?

It would've been easy to just let her fend for herself when they'd pulled her onstage. He could've easily escaped, no problem. Heck, he could've left her at the café. He didn't have to give her a ride.

The more she thought about it, the more a small glimmer of hope sparked in her chest. It could be that Kaiba cared for her…even the smallest bit! She fully realized she was probably only fooling herself. She wished she could talk about it with someone, but she could just picture her friends' reactions if she told them she liked Kaiba.

Serenity then decided she was not going to get any sleep tonight. She hopped off her bed and exited her room, deciding she'd get some hot cocoa and ponder a little more.

XXXXX

Duke Devlin glanced at his watch. It was midnight—and the casino was in full swing. He had a feeling Serenity had probably gone to bed by now. No matter. He'd just see her in the morning.

Duke quirked a dark eyebrow when he saw Tristan Taylor sitting at the bar, looking very depressed and nursing a cosmopolitan.

"Hey Tristan," Duke said looking at him curiously. Tristan didn't strike Duke as the drinking type.

Tristan peered up at him morosely. "Oh God, it's you," He moaned. "Not that there's any point. No point at all. So I shouldn't even worry." He took a large sip of the cosmopolitan.

Leave it to Tristan to get the girliest drink ever. "What's up?" Duke asked cautiously.

"She got _married_," Tristan moaned again. "_Married_."

"Who did?" Duke wanted to know.

"Serenity," Tristan wailed.

Duke choked on his margarita. "_What_?!" He coughed. "No way."

"Way," Tristan poked his glass. "I saw her go into the wedding chapel holding hands with—with—" At this thought, Tristan downed the cosmo.

"With who?" Duke demanded.

"_Seto Kaiba._"

This caused Duke to choke again, even though he wasn't drinking anything. He stared at Tristan suspiciously. "Tell me, Tristan. Were you sober when you saw this?"

Tristan glared at him. "Yes, Devlin. I don't drink ever. But the girl of my dreams is now wedded to that bastard, it's Vegas, so I ordered a drink! And then I had another one! And then another! And then—"

"Yeah, I get it," Duke muttered. "Why don't you head upstairs? I think you've had enough." Tristan bobbed his head and stumbled off his stool, going towards the elevators. Duke watched him carefully and then considered.

Tristan must've not seen correctly. Despite what he'd said, he'd probably been drunk. Right?

Right then, to his shock he saw Serenity appear head towards the It's a Grind nearby the bar. She looked as pretty as he remembered, clad in a pink pajama set. He headed directly towards her.

XXXXX

Kaiba stared at his computer screen distastefully. Nothing was adding up correctly. For fun, he'd been working on a new set of duel disks that were lighter to enhance user comfort. But things weren't fitting together like they should've. That strange feeling in the pit of his stomach hadn't dissipated—if anything, it'd gotten worse. Large, sad green eyes kept interrupting his thought process.

Figures Wheeler's sister would be as annoying at Wheeler in a completely unfamiliar way.

Kaiba didn't drink much. Only socially when he had to attend corporate events. Alcohol clouded and inhibited the mind—he didn't see the point of it. But he figured that if ever there were a time he needed a drink, it would be now.

He headed downstairs and glanced at the It's a Grind and the bar, debating between a large black coffee or a bourbon. Mm…It's a Grind _did_ have the best coffees. He finally decided on the black coffee and started towards the coffee stand and froze.

He noticed Serenity taking a Styrofoam cup from the barista. She looked deep in conversation with Duke Devlin.

Kaiba felt a jolt of annoyance. Duke Devlin…Mokuba had tricked Serenity into going to Tre Bella Café by telling her Duke Devlin would be there. Perhaps she really was as flaky as he'd originally thought. As he watched the two of them he got even more annoyed—even more irritating, he wasn't sure why.

Looks like he'd be getting that bourbon after all.

XXXXX

"Uggggghhh…" Joey groaned. "My head." His head was throbbing painfully. The morning light was way too harsh. He tried sitting up and winced in pain.

"I swear I'll never drink again," He groaned again falling back on the pillows. He turned around to see if he could try and sleep away the pain a little more.

That was, until he turned and found Mai's face lying on the pillow next to him.

He jolted up. What the hell…why was Mai in his hotel room…? He was starting to panic.

Relax, relax…let's think through this rationally. He put his hand on his forehead and studied Mai, trying to remember. The first thing he took in was how nice morning light looked on Mai's face and the second was _what the hell was she doing in his bed_?

He glanced around the room. Wait, this wasn't his room. Where the hell was he?

Mai stirred slightly and Joey held his breath. He didn't want to wake her yet. They'd had a late night apparently, she should sleep in…plus he was scared she'd kill him when she finally awoke.

Maybe he should leave…he frowned unconsciously. She'd probably kill him _more_ if he left. Plus it was a really scummy thing to do. He wasn't going to do that. He wondered what the chances of her not killing him were. He ran his fingers through his hair tiredly and blinked suddenly. He slowly took his hand out of his hair and stared at it.

There was a gold band encircling his finger.

"HOLY SHIT!" He yelped without thinking, and then clapped a hand over his mouth.. Mai's eyes opened and she slowly sat up, lightly clasping the sheets to her chest. She took in the scene through narrowed eyes. Her gaze landed on Joey.

This is the part where she kills me, Joey thought fervently.

"Where are we?" She finally asked. "This isn't my room and I don't think it's yours."

"I uh, don't really know," Joey stammered. "Do you uh, remember anything from—last night?"

Mai considered. She then groaned falling back on the pillows. "Yes. I remember everything."

"Oh," Joey gulped. "Well, that's one you got over me."

Mai shot up. "Are you telling me, Joey Wheeler, that you don't remember _anything_?" She demanded furiously.

Joey cowered beneath the blanket. "I…remember winning lots of money…"

"_And_?" Mai's eyes flashed. "Is that _it_?"

"Sorry?" He said meekly.

"You're SORRY?" Mai thundered.

"I mean, I'm not sorry?" Joey tried.

"You're NOT sorry?! We're MARRIED Joey. MARRIED," Mai snarled.

"I don't know what you want me to say!" Joey wailed. It was at that point Mai kicked him off the bed.

XXXXX

One bourbon, the cups of black coffee, and four Excedrin later, Kaiba sat at the It's a Grind within his casino massaging his temples. His tournament would officially begin in a matter of hours. His head was pounding—he ordered another coffee. An extra shot of espresso—he needed to get working.

"Um…good morning," A tentative voice said.

God. Kaiba glared up at the cause of his migraine. Serenity Wheeler was wearing a blue plaid skirt and a light pink camisole.

"I don't mean to bother you," She said hesitantly.

Her existence bothered him.

"I just wanted to wish you well on the tournament," She said mildly. "I know you've been working hard on it. Good luck judging." She started to turn away.

Kaiba watched her. He stood up, deciding he'd better get ready for the first duels.

She stopped for a moment. She then turned and looked at him, smiling. "I know you rejected me last night, but I still have feelings for you," She said firmly. "I'll try hard not to annoy you—but I still want you to know I like you." There was a small glimmer of defiance in her eyes.

Kaiba stared at her. He opened his mouth to shoot her down again—and found himself saying, "Maybe."

Her eyes lit up. "What?"

Kaiba refused to reply. He looked away from her, silently cursing himself. Why the hell was he not in control of his faculties?

She smiled again shyly and took his hand and squeezed it.

Kaiba whipped around to bark at her that 'maybe' did _not_ grant hand holding privileges.

She was watching him with a hopeful look on her face.

"Goddammit," Kaiba snarled under his breath and swiftly kissed her. The kiss hadn't gone on for more than two seconds when—

"WHY DO I KEEP WALKING IN ON THESE THINGS?!" Yugi wailed.


	7. Thriller

**AN: Hmm, I kind of jumped the shark with that unexpected kiss at the end. Oh well. Hope you enjoy!**

**ShhImNotMivi****- I just thought it was a very unique penname. My own came from a very Mary Sue-esque super hero I thought up of when I was thirteen. However, she was my first well-developed character and fanfiction, so I use her name to honor that. **

**A Nonny Mouse****- You rock for using the name I came up for you. XD I had that scene written for ages, it was fun to put up!**

**Hypodermic Needle****- I'm trying really hard to update weekly, every Tuesday by midnight. And yes, I get an unholy enjoyment out of tormenting Tristan. **

**Rhino7****- No no, you're absolutely right. That kiss was extremely out of character—I meant it that way, because it was something **_**Kaiba didn't intentionally plan**_**. On a VERY related note, you're the only one paying attention to the crazy duelists, so I'm hoping you get my plans for them first…**

**Catalyna Cullen****- Those two fave parts of yours were my favorite parts to write! I listened to that song obsessively while writing this chapter!**

**And thank you to Larka the WhiteShe-Wolf and Sapphire Addict for reviewing, I love you all! **

**Disclaimer—Don't own nothing.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Now Seto," Mokuba said coaxingly. "Let's not overreact." His eyes darted around swiftly, looking for an escape. He was more or less trapped.

Kaiba was looking murderous. "I don't think you quite realize the severity of the situation, Mokuba," He growled.

Mokuba raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I just made you take her to a couple places in Vegas. No one forced you to kiss her."

Kaiba winced violently. He tried to visualize the event. Everything had a cause and effect relationship—he was quite clear on the effect of this catastrophe. But the cause…what the _hell_ had been the cause? Every time he tried to rationalize it his brain turned fuzzy.

Luckily Yugi had snapped him out of whatever daze he'd been in. Immediately, he'd spotted Mokuba standing on the stairs with his mouth hanging open. Kaiba had leapt to the chance to kill his little brother and immediately vacated the premises. He half wondered what Serenity had done when he left her in the café in the hotel.

"Y'know Seto, Joey's duel will be starting soon," Mokuba remarked. "And as one of the judges you shouldn't be late."

"It'll start when I want it to start," Kaiba growled again but glanced at his watch just the same. Mokuba unfortunately was right, he needed to go.

"I'll deal with you later," He said threateningly turning away.

XXXXX

Yugi ran into the corridor and ran smack into Tea. "I saw something that I have to tell you about because you have to know because I SAW IT!" He said in one breath.

Tea blinked. "Wait what?"

Yugi looked anxious and then beckoned her towards him. Tea leaned her head down as Yugi whispered something in her ear.

Tea nearly fell over. "WHAT?!"

"I KNOW!" Yugi yelled back.

"Oh my God," Tea said breathing fast. "Oh my holy freaking crap…"

"Right," Yugi nodded. "And now that you know…you can be the one to tell Joey!" And with that, Yugi attempted to hurry off, but Tea snatched his sleeve.

"Oh no you don't," She snarled. "Where is Joey anyway?"

Yugi shrugged. "I'm assuming he's still with Mai…he should be getting ready, his duel starts in ten minutes."

"I'll give him a call on my phone," Tea said ruefully. "And why don't we keep this little event you witnessed to ourselves at least till after his first duel? It'll mess up his concentration."

Yugi nodded. Telling Joey wasn't exactly on his list of things he wanted to accomplish anyway. At that moment, one of the elevator doors opened and a highly pissed off Mai stormed out.

"Oh…good morning, Mai," Tea endeavored to look at her blandly.

"Isn't that Joey's shirt?" Yugi said suddenly, who wasn't as quick on the uptake as Tea.

"No," Mai snapped. "It's mine."

"But it's got a Red-Eyes Black Dragon on it," Yugi persisted. "Didn't Serenity give it to him for his birthday?"

"IT'S MINE, YOU GOT THAT?!" Mai roared at them both and Yugi cowered behind Tea. She then furiously raged into the café in the lobby to get her breakfast.

XXXXX

A duelist who looked plain mean stepped towards the elevators and punched the up button. He wore a red leather jacket and dark sunglasses. He looked like some kind of biker—there were spikes on his combat boots and several knives attached to his belt.

The doors opened and the duelist found himself looking at Joey Wheeler, clad in nothing but a pair of boxers.

"How's it going?" Joey said attempting to be pleasant.

The duelist snorted contemptuously. "Kicked out of your hotel room?" He jeered.

Joey nodded glumly.

"What a loser," The duelist scoffed. "I think I'll get a different elevator." He strode away.

"Who you callin' a loser?" Joey demanded incensed. Just then Tristan came towards him, nursing a pounding migraine.

"Uh, Joey?" Tristan blinked at him. "May I ask what happened to your clothes?"

"I got kicked out of the suite before I got dressed," Joey grumbled. "Be a pal and lend me some? My duel starts in ten minutes."

XXXXX

As this duel was the first duel of the tournament, several of the amateur duelists decided to watch how it played out. The supermodel type girl, Carina Heart, was perched cheerfully on the lap of the wheelchair-bound duelist who was looking rather bemused. Kaiba came to his seat, Mai and Yugi in tow.

"The first duel will be Joey Wheeler against Dis Pare," Kaiba announced. He noted with annoyance that Dis Pare was the tall dark and pale duelist who had ominously warned him, 'she'll get you in the end.'

"Duel start."

"I will start," the man in black shuffling his cards. Joey looked in interest at the auburn-haired girl who cheered him on enthusiastically. Joey could smell her perfume from where he was; it was very flowery.

"So," Joey said conversationally. "How'd you get a girl like that?"

"I kidnapped her," Dis replied easily.

Joey blinked. "Wha…?"

"I'll begin with Dragon Zombie (1600/0) in attack mode," Dis said as though he hadn't heard. A rotting form of the monster Crawling Dragon appeared in front of him. "I'll also place one card facedown. Your move."

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat me!" Joey proclaimed. "I'll start with my Marauding Captain! (1200/600) And when Marauding Captain is summoned, I can summon a four level monster or lower from my hand! So, come on out, Rocket Warrior! (1500/1300)"

"And that's not all," Joey continued. "I'm going to play a little card called, Reasoning. Here's how it works. You have to guess a star level. Then I pick up cards from the top of my deck. If the first monster I come to is the same level as the one you guessed then it goes straight to my graveyard! But if it's not, I get to summon it!"

Dis stroked his chin. "An interesting proposition. Since most duelists carry more four star monsters than any other, I will guess that the next monster you come to in your deck is a four star monster."

"Well, let's find out," Joey said picking up the top card on his deck. "Hm, my Prepare to Strike Back is a trap card so I have to send it to the graveyard right now. Let's see what the next card is!"

Joey drew once again and a small smile crept up upon his face. He held up his card and slowly turned it towards Dis.

"My Red-Eyes Black Dragon is a seven star monster not a four star monster. Guess that what means!"

"You'll get so summon it," Dis said.

"Come forth, Red-Eyes Black Dragon! (2400/2000)" Joey yelled and slapped the card on his duel disk.

"Now, I'm gonna convert my Rocket Warrior to its invincible mode! It'll attack your dragon zombie!" Joey cried out again. The rocket flew forward and blew out a chunk of the dragon zombie. (1100/0)

"My Marauding Captain will attack your dragon!" Joey ordered. The Marauding Captain started towards the zombie.

"Stop right there," Dis ordered the monster and it froze in fear, as if his very presence scared him. "You've activated my trap card. Stygian Tempest!"

"What? I've never heard of that card before!" Joey said surprised.

"It's a very special card. I can activate when you destroy a zombie type monster. Your battle phase ends and I destroy all of your monsters." Dis smiled cruelly. A storm appeared on the field and a giant black tornado descended from the sky. It struck Joey's Red-Eyes, then his Rocket Warrior, then his Marauding Captain.

"Augh no!" Joey exclaimed.

"Of course this does have a heavy cost for me," Dis commented. "I have to send every monster in my deck to my card graveyard."

"That's kind of a heavy cost, don't you think?" Joey snorted.

"I just said it was."

"Who would use that card?" Joey said frustrated.

Dis smiled again and it sent a shiver down Joey's spine. "A very rich man. And now—is it my turn?"

"Not yet," Joey said put out. "I play a card face down. _Now_ it's your turn!"

"Well, my Dragon Zombie's (1600/0) attack points return to normal. But that doesn't matter because I'm sacrificing him for the Dark Ruler Hades! (2450/1600" Dis commanded. Immediately an imposing fiend appeared on the field and grinned maliciously at Joey.

"Do you like my card?" Dis inquired.

"Uh, no, it's kinda freaky looking. Kinda like you," Joey shot out.

"Yes, well, he's going to attack your lifepoints now," Dis said pleasantly.

"I don't think so!" Joey informed him. "I activate my Fairy Box! So now there's a fifty-fifty chance!"

Hades hissed and fired an attack at him. The box appeared and shattered apart, defending Joey's lifepoints.

Dis waved his hand, unimpressed.

Joey drew. "Now, my Fairy Box is a permanent trap but I have to pay 500 lifepoints to keep it around. I'm not gonna. I don't need it anymore."

"If you say so," Dis rather sneered.

The box disappeared.

"I'm going to activate a card known as, Question!" Joey announced. "Now you've gotta guess the bottom monster in my graveyard. If you guess right, then the monster's removed from the game. But if you guess wrong then I get to summon it for another go round!"

"Your deck certainly is full of chances," Dis noted. He stroked his chin once more, looking strangely intrigued. "I am the master of the graveyard after all. I destroyed three monsters in my opening turn so it could be any one of those three. I am going to guess—Rocket Warrior."

"AAAAH, WRONG!" Joey said gleefully. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon! (2400/2000)"

"Ah, I thought as much," Dis said genially.

"Wait, what? You guessed wrong on purpose?" Joey squawked.

"I wanted to see what you could do if you brought it back. After all, my Hades has a fifty point lead on it," Dis pointed out.

"True," Joey acknowledged. "But you're gonna regret guessing wrong! I used this combo in my tagteam duel with Kaiba!"

"Now is that never speaking of it again?" Kaiba said sullenly.

"Polymerization, merge my Goddess with the Third Eye with my Red-Eyes Black Dragon for Black Skull Dragon! (3200/2500)" Joey yelled out.

"Ah, a dragon after my own heart," Dis said looking pleased as the skeletal dragon formed onto the field. "I am _very_ interested in the dead."

"You are one creepy bastard," Joey said looking ill. "Since I haven't made a normal summon this turn, I'll summon my Little-Winguard in attack mode! (1400/1800) Black Skull Dragon, take out his Hades!"

The Black Skull Dragon attacked Dis' monster and the Hades was destroyed.

Dis—3250LP

Joey—4000LP

"Little-Winguard attack him directly!" Joey continued. The tiny warrior rushed forward and slashed Dis in the chest. The auburn-haired girl let out a cry of alarm.

"It's all right, Seph," Dis said comfortingly to her. The girl still looked worried.

"Before I end my turn, I'm gonna activate my Little-Winguard's special ability. He can switch to defense mode. Your move," Joey said firmly.

Dis drew and then smiled creepily. "Ah. Here it is."

"Here what is?" Joey demanded.

"A very special card, Mr. Wheeler," Dis chuckled. "An extraordinarily rare card of which only fourteen copies were ever made. Behold, the Amphora of Doom!" He held up a continuous spell card with an image of a Greek vase on it. He then slid it into his duel disk and smiled. "End turn."

"Wha—it didn't do anything!" Joey felt compelled to point out.

"That's what you think, Mr. Wheeler," Dis said comfortably.

"You can't be that much older than me, stop calling me Mr. Wheeler," Joey grumbled.

"That's weird," Mokuba said suddenly, frowning.

"What?" Tea asked.

"Nothing…"

"I'm a great deal older than you," Dis informed him.

"Black Skull Dragon, finish him off, and I believe that means I win the duel!" Joey said rather nettled.

The attack lunged forward and struck Dis in the chest.

Joey—4000LP

Dis—0LP

Joey turned to walk away when Dis said, "Not so fast, Mr. Wheeler. This duel is still on."

"Huh?" Joey spluttered. The jar on the field shattered apart in front of him and black smoke began pouring out.

"The Amphora of Doom's special ability just kicked in," Dis announced.

"What?" Joey said puzzled. It seemed like half of Joey's comments this duel were either 'huh' or 'whats'.

"If my lifepoints hit zero, then I don't lose the duel and my Amphora of Doom is automatically destroyed." Dis said calmly.

Joey's mouth dropped open.

"And if my Amphora of Doom is destroyed, then I gain 3000 lifepoints and I can summon a very special monster." Dis continued.

Dis—3000LP

Joey—4000LP

There was a sudden rumbling. A massive throne made out of bones began sliding out of the ground behind him. Sitting on the throne was a man dressed in black armor. He folded his arms. The man bore a striking resemblance Dis.

"Meet Polydegmon the Death Lord (0/3000)," Dis smiled again.

"Your monster has no attack points!" Joey said looking highly annoyed that his moment of victory had been ripped away.

"Very true. I also played him in attack mode. Is your turn done, Mr. Wheeler?"

Joey paused and realized that it was still technically his turn. "Uh…" He slid a card face down. "It is now."

Dis drew a card, looked at it while quirking an eyebrow and then ended his turn.

"All right, now I'm gonna finish you off! Black Skull Dragon, attack that Polly—Polly—whatchamacallit!" Joey ordered.

The dragon roared and released another fireball.

"Another fatal error, Mr. Wheeler," Dis said warningly. "You've made quite a few this duel. When Polydegmon is attacked, he gains 5000 attack points."

"Huh?" Joey said faintly.

Yugi's elbow slipped from underneath his chin. Mai's jaw fell open. Even Kaiba looked suddenly interested.

The man in the throne held up his hand and a river of blood flowed out of it. (5000/3000)

"I feel remorse that I have to destroy such a noble beast," Dis said but he didn't look that remorseful. Chains made of living skeletons ripped out of the earth wrapped around the Black Skull Dragon and dragged him into the pit.

Dis—3000LP

Joey—2200LP

"Your deck just gets creepier and creepier," Joey shook his head. "Panther Warrior, in attack mode. (2000/1600) And another card face down. Your move."

As soon as Dis drew, his enthroned creature stood up. A black staff appeared in its hand like a pitchfork missing its middle tine.

"Hmm…I activate a card known as Tribute to the Doomed," Dis announced. "I can discard one card from my hand to destroy one monster on the field."

"You gonna destroy my Panther?" Joey wanted to know.

"No. I'm going to destroy my own creature." Mummy bandages popped out of the ground and hauled Polydegnon into the card graveyard.

"He just threw away a 5000 attack point monster?" Kaiba said incredulously.

"He must have something worse planned," Yugi said nervously.

Mai looked faintly concerned. "I don't see a way out of this. I think Joey's going to lose." She said worriedly.

Unfortunately for her, Joey heard and whipped around at her. "You need to have more faith in me, 'sweetums'!" He snapped. Mai stood, looking about ready to tear his head off.

"Sit down, Valentine," Kaiba said bored. "My mistake…Wheeler, isn't it?"

Mai gave him a death glare and returned to her seat.

"Now, I activate a card known as Underworld Circle!" Dis cried out.

"Hey Yugi, haven't you played that card before?" Tea said suddenly.

Yugi nodded solemnly. "That's why Dis dumped nearly his entire deck into the graveyard. He knew was going to draw this card eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if his entire deck focused on this card."

"When Underworld Circle is activated it destroys every monster on the field," Dis commented. Panther Warrior and Little-Winguard shattered apart.

"Then it removes every monster in our hand and in our decks from the game. Only the monsters in the graveyard count now. Of course, I don't have any monsters in my deck. They're all in the graveyard. How about you?" Dis inquired.

"There goes my monsters," Joey groaned looking horrified as he removed nearly half his deck.

"Now, once per turn we may each special summon one monster from our graveyards. Bear in mind that if you summon your Panther Warrior or your Little-Winguard, you can't summon anything else." Dis explained.

"Why would I summon them if I could bring back Black Skull Dragon?" Joey demanded.

"Very well then. Let us summon our monsters now," Dis said sinisterly.

"Arise, Black Skull Dragon! (3200/2500)" Joey yelled.

"And I think you know who I'm bringing back," Dis chuckled.

"That Polywog thing," Joey snorted.

Dis' eyes looked downright chilly. "Polydegnon. And of course, he gets to keep the attack points he had when you attacked him."

"What? That doesn't make sense, he was in the graveyard!" Joey yelped.

"I told you, I am the master of the graveyard. Did you think that any one of my monsters _didn't_ belong there?" Dis asked frostily.

Joey paused. "Have I mentioned how creepy you are?"

"Frequently," Dis shrugged. "It's your turn."

"I don't have any monsters left in my deck," Joey muttered worriedly drawing a card.

"It's your standby phase, so each of us get to summon a monster," Dis reminded him.

Joey thought. "I think I'll bring back Rocket Warrior. (1500/1300)"

"And I shall bring back a monster that should be near and dear to your heart, Mr. Wheeler," Dis said delicately.

"Say what now?" Joey blinked.

"Behold my Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon! (2400/2000)"

"Say WHAT NOW?!" Joey shrieked as a creepy undead version of Joey's favorite dragon arose from the graveyard. "Aw that's just wrong! Black Skull Dragon, get rid of that Red-Eyes wannabe!" The zombie exploded in a pile of guts.

"Now that Red-Eyes has been destroyed, it can't come back. You see, once the monsters brought back by Underworld Circle are destroyed, they leave the game and can never come back." Dis said chillingly.

Dis—2200LP

Joey—2200LP

"Your move, you freak of nature," Joey said looking thoroughly disgusted. Dis' girlfriend bristled.

"He is _not _a freak of nature!" She said defiantly.

"All right, I draw. And now we each get to special summon a monster from our gaveyard," Dis repeated. "And I'm going to bring back my Paladin of the Cursed Dragon. (1900/1200)"

Kaiba's eyes twitched.

"Hm. That looks like Kaiba's Paladin of White Dragon. Only—dead-er." Yugi commented.

"Now, my Death Lord will attack your Black Skull Dragon!" Dis roared.

"Oh, we'll just see about that," Joey grinned. "Cuz now I trigger my trap, Skull Dice!"

"Now, when the dice rolls, your monster's attack points will be divided by the number that comes up!" The demon rolled a giant die and it came up as—one.

"One?" Joey said outraged.

"Looks like your luck's run out," Dis said dangerously.

"Not exactly. Fortunately, I had a backup plan," Joey said feverishly.

"There's a first," Kaiba snorted.

"Behold, my Magic Arm Shield!" Joey proclaimed.

Dis' eyes widened in surprise. A cartoon hand stretched out of the shield and grabbed the Paladin. It dragged him into the path of the attack. Dis closed his eyes and sighed.

As the attack hit his own monster instead of the dragon, his lifepoints began dropping.

Joey—2200LP

Dis—0LP

"Congratulations," Dis said mildly impressed. He suddenly grinned. "But I'll get you in the end."

Joey gave him a _highly_ creeped out look.

"Wheeler, turn and get your score," Kaiba ordered imperiously. "I give you an 8/10. Normally, you'd get a 10/10 for winning, but you wasted your time with that Skull Dice. I took off points for that."

"I give you a 7/10, Joey," Yugi said regretfully.

"What?!" Joey yelped. Apparently being best friends with one of the judges didn't help.

"Sorry, Joey, but you didn't really have a strategy going in," Yugi shrugged.

Joey then looked nervously at Mai. He doubted being married to one of the judges would help him either.

"I give you a -3/10," Mai said stonily.

"_What?! _WHY?!" Joey cried out.

"Because I don't like you," Mai folded her arms and crossed her legs.

"Total score is 12. Dis, turn and receive your score. You get a 0/10 from me," Kaiba said disparagingly. "You _lost. _To _Wheeler_."

"You get a 9/10 from me," Yugi said honestly. "That was an awesome combo using Stygian Tempest and Underworld Circle in combination."

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Joey bellowed.

"You get a 6/10 from me," Mai said tossing her hair. "You stuck to your underworld theme really well, but you got points off because I think I gagged when some of those zombies appeared."

"Total score is 14," Kaiba announced.

"Wait, _I_ won, but he got the higher score?" Joey wailed.

"Your score's not done, Wheeler, you're moving on, you'll get more later theoretically. This is Dis' entire score for the tournament." Kaiba said contemptuously.

Dis' girlfriend rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly.

Serenity, who'd been watching in the background rather afraid of being noticed or ignored by Kaiba, cautiously went forward and embraced her brother.

"Good job, Joey," She congratulated him, but her eyes hesitantly flickered towards Kaiba.

Kaiba, who at once spotted Serenity Wheeler, abruptly stood and strode out of there as fast as his long legs could take him. Tea immediately noticed this and started after him.

"Thanks sis," Joey sighed. He then glanced at Mai and decided he'd better vamoose.

Meanwhile, Carina Heart, who was still seated on the wheelchair-bound duelist, giggled delightedly.

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**AN: I realize there was a huge lack of Serenity in this chapter, but next chapter will be focused solely on her and Kaiba, so don't kill me. :D Please review!**


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